by Jerry Connors, for the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission

Harrisburg, PA — The 2011 Pennsylvania Fair Harness Racing Guide, the invaluable factbook for horsemen racing the twicearound circuit in the Keystone State, is now available online at the Racing Commissions’ website: type in www.agriculture.state.pa.us; select “Bureaus and Commissions”; select “Pennsylvania Racing Commission”; then scroll down to “Publications,” and select “2011 PA Fair Guide.”

The actual printed Fair Guide booklets, always seemingly deviled by last-minute adjustments delaying production, will be available early next week; anyone who has requested one from the Harrisburg Commission Office will be sent one. The Fair Guides will be available at the Commission Offices and Racing Offices at all three pari-mutuel tracks; the MSOA and PHHA on-track offices; and at the fairs themselves, starting with the inaugural fair meet of 2011, at Meadville.

The conditions for racing at Meadville are almost identical to last year’s, and are as follows: There will be Pennsylvania Sire Stakes racing for 2-year-olds of all classes on Saturday, June 25, and 3-year-olds on Sunday, June 26. Post time each day is 1 p.m. Entries for both days of racing should be called in to the Race Office by the morning of Thursday, June 23, with the box closing at 10 a.m.; the Meadville race office phone number is 724.695.0726.

The second PA fair stop is at the Big Butler Fair, which will feature 2-year-old Sire Stakes racing on Thursday, June 30, 3-year-old racing on Friday, July 1 (the 3TC race will be the Terry Schoeffel Memorial in honor of the late president of the fair horsemen’s association), and all classes of Quaker State racing on Saturday, July 2. Post time for all three cards is 11 a.m. The Sire Stakes races on Thursday and Friday will be charted. Entries for all three days of racing close at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 28, and the Butler race office phone number is 724.865.9968.