Pocono: First qualifers drawn, season starts Feb. 15
Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, the northeast Pennsylvania racino, has started swinging into high gear, as on Friday (Feb. 7) it drew for the first qualifying races of the 2025 season. The meet will begin a week from Saturday, on February 15, and those qualifiers will be held this coming Monday (Feb. 10).
An even dozen races are set to start at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning, with six races for trotters and six for pacers. Many familiar names from the fast-class racing wars will go behind the gate on Monday, looking to leg up for a big 2025 season.
The leading horsemen in terms of wins among both drivers and trainers in 2024 are scheduled to be seeing action at Pocono Monday. In 2025 driver Matt Kakaley will be looking to win his fourth straight sulky crown, while trainer Ron Burke will start his push to be atop the conditioners ranks for the fifth time in the last six years.
Monday will be an exceptionally busy day at the mountain oval. The first qualifiers will be raced, and a second set of qualifiers, to be held on Tuesday (Feb. 11), will be put together. Qualifiers will then resort to their usual day of Wednesday.
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As if that weren't enough information to process, Monday will also find the draw for the initial card of pari-mutuel racing in 2025, which as noted will be on Saturday, February 15, starting at 1 p.m. The first card will also mark the start of the popular various Game Of Claims Racing Series, in which the horses, claim checks, and introductions to new barns will be flying. Pocono opens with a Saturday-Monday 1 p.m. schedule in February (Monday the 17th's races to be drawn Tuesday the 11th), then adds Tuesday pari-mutuel action at 1 p.m. in March.
The Bobby Weiss Series for developing 3-year-olds of both gaits and sexes will begin its 2025 stand on Monday, March 17. The stakes races for the best Pennsylvania-sired youngsters – the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes, the Pennsylvania All-Stars, and the Pennsylvania Stallion Series - get underway on May 10, with the glamour division 3-year-old pacing males slated for All-Stars action.
The highlight of the season, Sun Stakes Saturday, will take place on August 16, with somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.4 million sure to provide great racing for the fans, the 3-year-olds, and the free-for-allers.
--press release (PHHA/Pocono)--