Mount Pleasant Meadows: Michigan Sire Stakes schedule unveiled

The Michigan Sire Stakes, the Great Lakes State’s premier day of racing, will be held Sunday, Sept. 22 at Mount Pleasant Meadows.

The six-division series is open to Michigan-sired horses, foaled in any state, that were nominated and remain eligible for the Sire Stakes program. Each race will feature an estimated purse of $50,000.

Each division will be separated by males and females, with the two juvenile races contested at 5 furlongs. The 3-year-old races are carded for 6 furlongs, while the divisions for older horses will be run at 1 1/16 miles.

Nominations for the Sire Stakes races close Sept. 5.

A series of $17,500 Michigan-bred prep allowance races will be held Sept. 3-4, with a trio of races for fillies and mares on Sept. 3 carded at the same distances as their respective Sire Stakes divisions. The prep races for males will be held the following day.

The Sire Stakes card has been a staple of the Michigan racing program since its inception in 1986. This year’s edition will be the second hosted at Mount Pleasant Meadows, a mixed breed track located in central Michigan, following a dormant year by the series in 2011. Previously, the event was held at Pinnacle Race Course, which closed following the 2010 racing season, and it has also been hosted by the now-defunct Great Lakes Downs and Detroit Race Course.

Other races scheduled for the Sept. 22 Sire Stakes card include the finals for the $20,000 estimated Great Lakes Quarter Horse Association Stallion Service Sale Futurity, as well as the $15,000 estimated GLQHA Stallion Service Sale Derby.

- The Michigan HBPA will host a benefit dinner for its PAC fund on Friday, August 30 at the Holly Hotel in Holly, Mich., beginning at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. The five-course meal will be free of charge, with requests for donations by personal check, in any amount, to the MI-PAC Fund.

Reservations are required for the dinner by Wednesday, August 28. For more information or to RSVP, call (248) 634-5208.