The Meadows: Bar Hopping's boys bag PA Sire Stakes triumphs

Keg Stand, the 1-2 favorite, took the lead with a quarter-pole move and made it stand up, capturing his second straight stakes division in Wednesday's $156,320 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes at The Meadows. S I P took the other split in the event for freshman colt and gelding trotters known as the Hickory Pride.

Global Pandemic, winner of both previous career starts, hustled to the point but yielded to Keg Stand, who entered the Hickory Pride off a PA All-Stars triumph. The son of Bar Hopping-Palm Beach Bi kept to his task for Dexter Dunn, defeating Global Pandemic by half a length in a sharp 1:55 1/5. Parola Hanover finished third.

"He has a really good attitude, and he's really happy all the time," said Nancy Takter, who conditions the $30,000 yearling acquisition for Black Horse Racing, Christina Takter and John Fielding. "We were looking for a Bar Hopping - my dad (Jimmy Takter) trained him - and he was the one we felt looked the best. He was actually a little physically immature when we bought him, but he's a beautiful horse now."

She said Keg Stand would be pointed to either the Kentucky Sires Stakes or the Peter Haughton.

S I P made it look easy, forcing the challenging Kosher Mahoney to retreat to the pocket on the first turn and defeating him by three lengths in 1:57, with Troycen third. Yannick Gingras drove the son of Bar Hopping-Barbara Brooks for trainer Ron Burke and owners Burke Racing Stable, Hatfield Stables, Brixton Medical Inc., and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.

Gingras said he would have released Kosher Mahoney had his driver, Tim Tetrick, been determined to take the point.

"If he'd wanted to go that was fine, but I wanted him to go a little faster," Gingras said. "He was content with the two-hole, and I was happy with that, too. This colt is getting better with every start, and that's good."

--press release (The Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)--