NEWS
Penn National to host $1.95-million in stakes
Posted: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 2:30 PM
Edited press release
The 40th running of the $200,000 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup Stakes at five furlongs on the turf is the highlight of a record $1.95-million stakes schedule announced Tuesday by Penn National Race Course.
A pair of $75,000 stakes for Pennsylvania-breds kicks off the added money season on June 1. The track’s annual Governor’s Cup Racing festival weekend is slated for July 27-28.
Three added-money events for fillies and mares will be held on Friday, July 27, including a pair of turf stakes in the $100,000 Jennie Wade Stakes and the $100,000 Red Carpet Stakes. Saturday’s program features the Governor’s Cup, along with the first edition of the $175,000 Mountainview Handicap at a mile and one-eighth over the dirt, and the $100,000 East Hanover Stakes going a mile and one-half on the grass.
Stakes races will continue through the summer and early fall and conclude on Thanksgiving Eve, Wednesday, November 21.
Penn National has also announced that the track’s richest main track race will headline that pre-holiday program and has been renamed the $200,000 Fabulous Strike Handicap. The race was called the Six Bits when Ravalo won its inaugural running last year.
“Fabulous Strike was the most popular locally grown stakes star in track history,” said Penn Naional Vice President of Racing Mark Loewe, “ and he went on to become a multiple Grade I stakes winner of more than $1 million. He won the first and last races of his career at home, along with stakes races, and we are honored to name the race after a horse generally regarded as one of America’s fastest sprinters in recent years.”
