RUS MidAtlantic, a business advocacy group promoting racing under saddle in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia, is proud to announce its schedule for the 2017 edition of the RUS MidAtlantic Trotting Series.

This year, there will be a total of five races for horses of varying ability with two of the races being conducted at fairs while the other three taking place at pari-mutuel tracks.

The fair series consist of two races, September 2 at the Shenandoah County Fair in Woodstock, Virginia and September 23 at The Great Frederick Fair in Frederick, Maryland with both races going for an estimated purse of $1,000. While the Woodstock race will be charted, the race at Frederick will not be charted. Horses must qualify within 90 days of their first start in the series with qualifying standards for the fair series being a clean charted line in 2:16 (half mile), 2:14 (five-eighths), 2:12 (seven-eighths-mile or larger) with allowances for weather and track conditions given. These races are a great opportunity to ‘learn and earn’ and allow participants and fans to partake of RUS in a relaxed fair setting.

The raceway series (previously conducted under the RUS America banner) is scheduled with preliminary legs contested at Ocean Downs (August 20); Meadowlands (September 9) and the final at Rosecroft Raceway (October 8). Estimated purses for the eliminations will be $5,000 with the final going for $7,500. Preference for the final will be for the highest point earners in the preliminary legs. Horses must have a clean charted line within 90 days of their first start in the series with qualifying standards of 2:10 (half mile), 2:08 (five-eighths), 2:06 (seven-eighths-mile or larger) with allowances for weather and track conditions.

For those needing to qualify, qualifying races are tentatively scheduled for Ocean Downs on August 3 and August 10. Of course, qualifiers will be accepted from other tracks which chart their races.

Races are open to all horses and riders which meet the conditions and USTA rules will apply. Year-end awards will be given to the top five riders in each series. Entries for all races and qualifiers will be handled by the respective tracks according to the time posted on their condition sheets. In the interim, questions should be directed to [email protected]. Conditions for both series are posted on the RUS MidAtlantic website (rus-midatlantic.org) under the RUS Events tab.

Sponsorship opportunities for both series remain available. For further information, you may contact RUS MidAtlantic at [email protected].

(RUS MidAtlantic)