Washington, PA – Here is this week’s Meadows Monday Memo.
BACK TO ACTION THIS WEEK
After a week off for regularly scheduled track maintenance, the racing season resumes this week at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. Four non-wagering qualifying races will take place Tuesday (Sept. 29) starting at 10:30 a.m. (EDT). Those races will be shown live on the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association’s Facebook page. Pari-mutuel racing returns on Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. The Meadows is now in its fall schedule, racing Wednesday through Friday afternoons weekly. The lone exception will be on Friday, Oct. 9, when racing will shift to a 5:10 p.m. post for Pink Out Night and the $200,000 Pennsylvania Fair Finals.
THURSDAY STAKES
Keystone Classics will resume this Thursday (Oct. 1) with two strong divisions of sophomore male trotters, each going for a purse of $24,475. Race 2 on the card will feature Captain Vodka, winner of more than $145,000 this season for trainer Robert Baggitt Jr. The Captain Corey gelding has won six of 19 this year, and will leave from post 5 out of six. Regular driver Ridge Warren is listed to drive. The top money-winner in the second division (race 3) is local product Hamlet Hall, trained by Norm Parker and driven by Mike Wilder. The Cantab Hall colt has won three races and more than $189,000 this season. They have drawn post 1 in the six-horse field
TOP TROTTERS FACE OFF THURSDAY
Race 7 on the 14-race Thursday afternoon card is the $20,000 Open Trot. Wild Bill Kelso will leave from the outside post for trainer Brandon Presto after an impressive effort in his most recent start. After being claimed for $22,000 on Sept. 4, The Crazy Wow 6-year-old won his next start in a conditioned race in 1:51.4. He followed that with a Sept. 18 win in an Open II trot, going wire to wire for Dave Palone in 1:51. The mile was the second-fastest trotting mile in the 60-plus year history of The Meadows, only trailing Hillexotic’s 2025 track record of 1:50.3. Ironically, the horse that held that second-best honor, Winslow, is also in the field. The now 5-year-old will be making his first start since Jan. 7 for trainer Dana Kahrig. Winslow trotted in 1:51.1 last year at The Meadows.
TOP OF THE LIST
As we enter the final three months of the season, Dave Palone holds a 23-win advantage over Ronnie Wrenn Jr. among winning drivers, 284-261. Palone also has a narrow lead in Universal Driver Rating, .420 to .415. Wrenn has the slight advantage in winning percentage, 27.2% to 26.3%. Among trainers, Ron Burke appears to be on his way to another training title with 184 wins, but Brandon Presto is making it closer than any other trainer has in many years, as he has conditioned 152 winners. Presto has the advantage in winning percentage at 28.7% with Burke at 22.7%. Justin Pirillo is a close third at 22.6%, among trainers with more than 200 starts.