by Jerry Connors, for the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission

Harrisburg, PA — Here are some notes after this past weekend’s Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championships.

—Dancinwiththestarz (3PF) became a repeat Sire Stakes champion, only the fourth since the modern era of recordkeeping began in 2002; the others, also fillies, were trotter Coulatine (2005) and pacers Armbro Dancer (2006) and Western Graduate (2007). Pilgrim’s Taj had a chance to get the boys “off the schneid” in the 3TC, but he made a break moving to the lead approaching the headstretch (in fairness, it looked like his “Pilgrim cousin,” winner Pilgrims Chuckie, probably would have caught him off a good trip).

–Seven of the eight champions sold at Harrisburg; one (3TF Easy Dream) was a homebred. Interestingly, three of Sunday’s four winners sold for exactly $40,000 each; the other, Cold Mist (2PF), was the bargain of the weekend at $7,000. The seven Farm Show graduates averaged $31,857 through the ring.

–Dancinwithethestarz was the only #1 pointgetter in her division’s preliminaries to triumph in the Championship… In fact, in perhaps the most unusual statistic of the Championship weekend, this was the place in the final pointstandings that the eventual winners occupied: 1-2-3-4-T5-T5-7-8!! Being hot at Championship time seems to be the key.

–In the Consolations, 3PF Sand Gesture, 3PC Fred And Ginger, and 2PF Show And Tell were “on the bubble” for the Championships as the ninth-highest pointgainer: they didn’t get in the richer race, but did win their Consolation….On the other side, 2TF Action-Broadway was 20th in the standings, and dead-last among her fellow Consolationists, but she was well supported by the crowd and had an easy victory.

–Temperatures that barely made it out of the 60s, and 15-20 mph winds, all but took away chances for records at The Meadows, but a bright sunny day, 20 degrees warmer, brought out speed at Harrah’s Chester: 2PF Consolation winner Show And Tell tied the season’s mark at 1:52.4; 2TC I Love New York equaled the national best for the year of 1:57 while breaking his maiden in his Consolation; 2TF Championship winner Beatgoeson Hanover set a Chester divisional track record of 1:56.1; and the two colt champions posted season marks: trotter Not Nice (1:56.3) and pacer Wink N Atcha (1:51.4).

–Brett Miller and Brian Sears each had a Championship win at both the Meadows and Chester, the only drivers to win two Championships…Miller also won a Chester Consolation…Dave Palone, who traditionally is a bear in the PaSS Championships, won a Championship and three Consolations at his “home track” Saturday, but he managed only a single Consolation win on Sunday.

–And finally, what is believed to be a Sire Stakes Championship record came in the 3TC when On The Tab was scratched sick and Mystery Photo scratched in — and paid his $1,000 starting fee. Since On The Tab also had to pay his starting fee, the purse for the race was a record $201,000.