Presque Isle meet kicks off with reduced purses

It will be more like a whisper than a roar when Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pa., launches its 2015 season on Sunday. Conspicuous by its absence is the traditional opening-day feature, the $100,000 Inaugural, which has been dropped from the stakes calendar.

The eight-race opening program, with first post at 5:25 p.m. Eastern, consists of six claiming events and two races for maiden special weight runners. The card attracted 70 horses, plus three also-eligibles.

But horseplayers won’t have to wait long for the first of 12 stakes. Monday’s program is highlighted by the $100,000 Tom Ridge Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds that drew 12 runners, including a coupled entry from trainer Adam Rice.

The marquee race of the meet remains the Grade 2, $400,000 Masters for fillies and mares going 6 1/2 furlongs on Sept. 7. The second-biggest race, the $200,000 Presque Isle Mile, will be contested Sept. 6.

In addition to the Ridge, there are four other stakes worth $100,000 apiece and five stakes restricted to Pennsylvania-breds with purses of $75,000 apiece.

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Purses for overnight races have been reduced drastically. Maidens who ran for $35,000 in 2014 will compete for a purse of $27,000 in the first condition book, a drop of 23 percent. First-level allowance purses are also down 22 percent from a year ago, from $36,000 to $28,000.

In addition to defending champion Dale Capuano, well-known trainers such as Graham Motion, Jonathan Sheppard, and Mike Trombetta will continue to race regularly at Presque Isle. Newcomers on the grounds include Mike Pappada, who is coming off a very good 11-for-48 meet at Mahoning Valley Race Course in Ohio; Tampa Bay Downs regular Lynne Scace, and Mountaineer-based Doug Shanyfelt.

Antonio Gallardo, coming off a record-breaking season at Tampa Bay Downs, is back to defend his riding title after winning 94 races last season. Gallardo, who has mounts in six races on opening day, is also expected to ride at ThistleDown in Cleveland during the summer.

Presque Isle, which opened in 2007 and has a synthetic Tapeta track, will race 20 weeks on a Sunday-through-Thursday schedule through Oct. 1.