Adios Harness Race Hosts Nation's Hottest Performers for Cool Half Million in Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG, Pa., July 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Some of the nation's top pacers will race in the $500,000 Adios Pace at The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in suburban Pittsburgh on Saturday, July 30. Total purses for the 17 races on Adios Day are more than $1 million.

This contest draws together the best three-year-old pacing colts and geldings in the country. In the last two years, 23 of the 33 winning horses on Adios race days were sired in Pennsylvania, showing the influence the state has on harness racing.  

"Attending a live horse or harness race is so exciting because you get to be right in the middle of the action," said Agriculture Secretary George Greig. "Pennsylvania has six state-of-the-art racing and gaming complexes, and hosts harness racing at 15 agricultural fairs."

Greig will join equine industry leaders in distributing trophies in the Winners Circle.  

In 2010, harness purses reached $103 million, with three of the five top U.S. tracks in Pennsylvania. These tracks include The Meadows, Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack and Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.

There are two additional breed-improvement racing programs for harness racing, including the Sire Stakes, for owners of fast racehorses fathered in Pennsylvania, and the Harness Breeders Fund, for the owners of mares that were bred to a Pennsylvania stallion to produce a competitive racehorse. Combined, the funds paid more than $21 million in 2010.

In addition to purse values raising the profile of racing in Pennsylvania, fans are encouraged to experience the distinctive entertainment of racing through Facebook and Twitter and the interactive website www.trackpackpa.com.

For more information on Pennsylvania racing programs, visit www.agriculture.state.pa.us, click on "Bureaus Commissions and Councils" and select "Pennsylvania Racing Commission."

Media contact: Samantha Krepps, 717-787-5085

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

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