The Meadows: Timeisonmyside seeks 6th straight in Saturday's PA Sire Stakes

Timeisonmyside will be looking for his sixth straight victory when he steps up in class to Saturday’s $159,771 Pennsylvania Sires Stake for 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. The event kicks off the year’s rich sires stake season at The Meadows.

The 14-race program also features a $60,000 PA Stallion Series stake for sophomore colt and gelding pacers. The stellar card is part of The Meadows’ fun-filled Kentucky Derby Day celebration, which also features a Derby hat contest with prizes up to $1,000, a balloon artist, giveaways, food and drink specials, live music all day, and paddock tours and starting gate rides — all followed by the simulcast of the Kentucky Derby.

First post is at the special time of 11:30 AM.

Timeisonmyside generated considerable excitement at the 2022 Harrisburg yearling sale, where the son of Captain Crunch-Macharoundtheclock was hammered down for $165,000 to Anthony MacDonald for his fractional ownership groups. Some of the enthusiasm could be attributed to his strapping good looks, the rest to his family. He’s a half to the terrific Sweet Lou son Fourever Boy, who this year at 5 is nearing $1 million in earnings. Yet Tim Twaddle, who conditions both, says there’s little physical similarity between the half sibs.

“Timeisonmyside is bigger and longer and covers the ground very easily,” Twaddle says. “Fourever Boy is more compact.”

For all that early excitement, Timeisonmyside’s freshman season was disappointing - four starts, one win - and Twaddle, who didn’t have him at 2, thinks he knows why.

“He had no soundness issues, but he was immature and didn’t have the greatest attitude,” Twaddle says. “They gelded him at the end of last year, and he’s come back wonderfully. He’s been brought along nicely. He hasn’t had to face any crazy tough competition.”

That all changes Saturday. In Timeisonmyside’s last race, he captured the final of the Tom Kirwan Memorial Pace at The Meadows. That’s a nice title to be sure, yet the competition he’ll likely face the balance of the year is significantly stiffer.

“He needs to be tested,” Twaddle says. “It will be good to see what’s up against these sires stake horses. If he’s able to handle them, he’ll have some nice Grand Circuit opportunities this year, including the Delvin Miller Adios and the Little Brown Jug.”

Upholding the family honor is still another incentive for Timeisonmyside, as his dam recently succumbed to colic at age 14. That’s a great loss for her owner, Seth Rosenfeld’s Birnham Wood Farms, for Twaddle and for harness racing.

“She had ‘Hall of Fame Broodmare’ written all over her,” Twaddle laments.

Timeisonmyside leaves from the rail in race 4 with MacDonald aboard. The stake features a couple familiar names: Rose Run Zeke, runner-up in last year’s PASS championship, and Hugh Heston, who won a PASS consolation on that card. They’ll clash in race 6.

-edited release (Evan Pattak for MSOA)