The Meadows: PA Sire Stakes commence with Gingras in the driver’s seat

Perhaps the lifeblood of the stakes season in harness racing are the Sire Stakes races in each state. These programs offer 2- and 3-year-olds multiple opportunities to race for good money and compete against their own class.

On Saturday at The Meadows, the glamour division on the pacing side gets underway as 15 of the best 3-year-old male pacers will go behind the gate in split Pennsylvania Sire Stakes divisions.

Driver Yannick Gingras and trainer Ron Burke always have a strong hand in these PASS races, and Saturday is no different. Gingras will drive two main contenders and Burke sends out five horses.

Gingras starts from post one with Lou's Pearlman in the $76,728 first division, race four on the card with an early 11:25 a.m. first-race starting time. The son of Sweet Lou was the fastest 2-year-old colt pacer of 2020 with a 1:49 1/5 win in the Bluegrass at The Red Mile and he enters Saturday's race off a solid pair of qualifiers at the Meadowlands in 1:53 3/5 and 1:50 3/5.

"He qualified super and was loaded with pace," said Gingras, who was driving Lou's Pearlman for the first time in his career.

Despite never sitting behind him in a race, as the go-to driver for Burke, Gingras was certainly familiar with the colt.

"When we started last year he was one of the best colts and was very impressive, but he never really improved as the year went on," he remarked.

Going off just 2-year-old performances, Lou's Pearlman sticks out as the clear horse to beat, but the field includes a number of late bloomers who could seriously threaten Gingras on his way to the winner's circle. Hellabalou (post two) posted an impressive 1:51 1/5 win in his first start out of the gate for trainer Eddie Dennis at Harrah's Philadelphia on April 14 and looks ready to take the next step, and Lunar (post five), unraced at age 2, has reeled off five straight wins for Burke to start 2021.

Two races later in the $77,128 second division, Gingras will guide Southwind Gendry from post five. As the regular driver for both Southwind Gendry and Summa Cum Laude in 2020, Gingras had a choice to make and stuck with the former, a 10-time winner in 13 career races.

"When I went to the farm to train them about two to three weeks before the qualifiers, my mind was pretty much made up because I thought 'Gendry' was better last year," said Gingras. "I trained them and both were really good, but I thought 'Gendry' had a little something more.

"I sat down with Ronnie [Burke], and he wanted a regular driver for Summa Cum Laude because they are both in the same races and I'd have to choose off eventually."

Thus far Southwind Gendry has looked like the right call as he won both of his Meadowlands qualifiers in 1:52 4/5 and 1:51 in preparation for Saturday. Meanwhile, Summa Cum Laude finished second to Lou's Pearlman twice in his morning trials.

"He just does what he needs to do," said Gingras about Southwind Gendry. "Last week at the top of the stretch I called on him, and he didn't take off. I was wondering what was wrong, but the minute he heard Todd's [McCarthy, Exlpoit] horse coming, he just hit another gear. We could've gone around two more times and he was never getting to him."

In addition to meeting Summa Cum Laude (post three) with new driver Dexter Dunn, Southwind Gendry will have to defeat six other foes, including Chase H Hanover (post four), who was nine times first or second in 10 starts last year, and a pair of undefeated-in-2021 3-year-olds in Linnycalledfrankie (post six) and Billy Clyde (post seven).

The 13-race card on Saturday at The Meadows will also feature five $20,000 Stallion Stakes races for the same age and sex, but Gingras won't be hanging around all day due to a tight schedule that has him flying back to New Jersey in the afternoon to compete in the $115,583 Dexter Cup at Freehold Raceway at around 4 p.m. and then a trip up the New Jersey Turnpike for a full slate of drives at the Meadowlands at night.