from Harness Publicists across North America

The March 15 deadline is drawing near for many stakes payments. Below are a list of notices that have been submitted to the USTA Newsroom.

We recommend that all payments be sent by certified mail.

Staking forms and regulations can be found at www.msrfonline.com or you may call 301.567.0100.

— Cheri Stambaugh

Indiana Downs sustaining payments due March 15

Shelbyville, IN — Sustaining payments for the Monument Circle, Oliver Trotting Classic, and the Circle City for 3-year-olds are due Monday, March 15, and must be postmarked on or before March 15, 2010.

In addition, nominations for the Elevation (2-year-old colts and geldings) and Circle City for 2-year-olds are due Monday, March 15.

Nomination forms can be found on the Indiana Downs Web site by clicking the following link.

— Indiana Downs

Delaware sired 2-year-old payments due

Dover, DE — A reminder that 2-year-old sustaining payments in Delaware are due to be postmarked by Monday, March 15.

This $100 payment is required to keep the horse eligible as a 3-year-old in 2011.

Any 2-year-old that was not nominated as a yearling can be supplemented for $350 plus the $100 sustaining fee.

For forms go to www.desbf.com.

Mail to: Delaware Standardbred Breeders’ Fund, 2320 S. DuPont Hwy, Dover, DE 19901.

— Judy Davis-Wilson

Balmoral and Maywood stake payments due March 15

Crete, IL — Just a reminder for all horsemen that nomination forms and initial stake payments for events at both Balmoral Park and Maywood Park are due by Monday, March 15.

To view the forms online, click here or visit the horsemen’s pages at www.balmoralpark.com or www.maywoodpark.com.

If you have any questions please contact the Balmoral Park race office at (708) 672-1414 or the Maywood Park race office at (708) 343-4800 during racing hours.

— Tom Kelley

Two-Year-Olds: If a 2-year-old was not paid in as a yearling, the horse can still be supplemented to the Sire Stakes at a cost of $1,500 for the pari-mutuels and $500 for the fairs. All 2-year-olds must make the following payments to keep eligible to their respective programs: $150 for pari-mutuels, $25 for fairs.

Three-Year-Olds: The only 3-year-old payment due on March 15 is for the pari-mutuels, a $500 payment.

Make check out to, and send to PA Sire Stakes, 2301 N. Cameron St., Room 301, Harrisburg, PA 17110. Sire Stakes forms are available by e-mailing gconnors@state.pa.us or by calling 717.787.5539.

— Gerry Connors

March payments on the horizon for Hambletonian Society stakes

Cranbury, NJ — March sustaining and nominating payments for Hambletonian Society stake events are due Monday, March 15 and per USTA Rule 12 section 4, must be postmarked by midnight on Tuesday, March 16.

The Hambletonian Society services 109 of harness racing’s richest and most prestigious events.

The Web site www.Hambletonian.org contains all the tools and information necessary to stake your horse yourself.

Eligibility lists for races that had a final payment on Feb. 15, 2010 are posted on the left side of the Web site. Race conditions, payment forms and much more information is also available online.

For additional information call the Society offices at 609.371.2211.

— Moira Fanning

Payments for Tioga and Vernon stakes due March 15

Nichols, NY — Tioga and Vernon Downs will offer over $4 million in stakes over the course of the 2010 racing season and the time is upon us to secure eligibility for those lucrative races.

The $1 million Empire Breeders Classic for New York sired 3-year-olds kicks off the season for state breds on Memorial Day weekend, offering $250,000 (est.) finals for all divisions. Due by March 15 are the 3-year-old sustaining, 2-year-old nomination and stallion nomination payments.

The Kindergarten Classic has been restructured to race freshman trotters only in 2010 and the added money has been increased, raising the final for both colts and fillies to $120,000 (est.). The series offers five legs, beginning at the Meadowlands in late July and continues at Vernon through the September 24 finals. A $500 nominating payment is due on March 15 with another $500 due April 15 to sustain.

The Bettor’s Delight “Bred in NY to take on the World” open pace, has been added to the existing set of races for the older stars of the sport. In fact, all of the stakes offered for older open types, Credit Winner, Conway Hall and Artiscape, have been enriched with more added dollars to raise the purses for each to $200,000 (est.) in 2010. These races require a $2,000 March 15 nomination and a $2,000 April 15 sustaining payment.

The popular Miss Versatility mare trot returns on July 30 with leg one at the Meadowlands and travels to Tioga and Vernon before the $120,000 (est.) final at The Little Brown Jug. Payments are $1,500, due in both March and April.

The Rags to Riches series for claiming horses has been discontinued.

Complete information on the the above races is available at the Tioga Web site.

Vernon Downs will also host the 2010 edition of the 2-year-old John Simpson Memorial stakes. Those races have been scheduled in early October as a prelude for freshman trotters and pacers on their way to Kentucky. Eligibility requires a March 15 payment and the conditions do provide for supplemental nominations. The Tompkins-Geers stakes will race at Tioga Downs in mid-July, with 2-year-old payments for those races also due in March.

The Hambletonian Society handles the payments for the Simpson and Tompkins-Geers.

— Nick Salvi

Payments due March 15 For NJ-Sired Babic paces

Trenton, NJ — An important sustaining payment is due March 15 in order to keep New Jersey-sired 2-year-old pacers eligible to the 2010 Lou Babic Memorial Paces sponsored by the New Jersey Sire Stakes Program.

Due on March 15 are sustaining payments of $700 for the Babic Pace open and $400 for the Babic filly division. These payments should be mailed to NJSS, P.O. Box 330, Trenton, NJ 08625.

The Babic Open Pace, with an estimated purse of $120,000, and the Babic Filly Pace, with an estimated purse of $75,000, are scheduled for September 4 at Freehold Raceway. Elimination heats, if necessary, are scheduled for August 28 for both colt and filly divisions.

— Leon Zimmerman

Ontario Sire Stakes 2-year-old payments due March 15

Toronto, ON — The Ontario Sires Stakes Administration would like to remind everyone that March 15 is the deadline for the C$500 sustaining fee for Ontario-sired 2-year-olds that were nominated to the OSS as yearlings in 2009.

Please be advised that envelopes dropped into a mailbox do not always get postmarked that day. We recommend sending payments by courier or registered mail so you will have proof that you sent it and the envelope can be tracked. If not sending by registered mail, please ensure that the envelope has a postmark of March 15 or earlier.

If you did not receive the sustaining notice that was mailed mid-February, just print your horse’s name and tattoo number on the front of your check and mail it to: Ontario Sires Stakes, 10 Carlson Court, Suite 400, Toronto, ON M9W 6L2.

For more information please contact: Karen Hauver, OSS Administration Coordinator, 519.369.3545 or e-mail
records@ontariosiresstakes.com.

— Karen Hauver