At a Wednesday meeting following the regular monthly session of the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission, the Commonwealth’s Standardbred Breeders Advisory Committee

, chaired by Commissioner Rick Welsh, came together to examine the current status of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and the Pennsylvania Standardbred Breeders Development Fund, and to explore ideas to ensure the short- and long-term future of the breeding industry in Pennsylvania.

The Advisory Board is recommending two major changes in the distribution of award money from the Standardbred Breeders Fund, both of which will start with the 2011 racing season that will be paid early in 2012:

1. The category of payment to “PA -sired” horses, horses fathered by a local stallion but whose mother did not complete the program’s residency requirements, will be discontinued for all ages of horses. These awards monies will be used for races for Pennsylvania-sired two- and three-year-olds.

2. The category of payment to “PA-sired and –bred” horses,” whose dams did stay 180 days in Pennsylvania and foal here, will be discontinued for five-year-olds. These funds will strengthen the development of Pennsylvania’s younger local crops by adding funds to their Breeders awards.

These changes will not affect the rewards of horses currently racing and earning awards, nor will the payments earned by any horse racing in 2010 be lowered.

The recommendations will be considered for adoption at the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission meeting on December 16 in Harrisburg.

The other members of the Pennsylvania Standardbred Breeders Advisory Committee are Jim Simpson, Dave Prushnok, Kevin Decker, and Sam Beegle. The Committee will continue to study the changing landscape of the state’s harness racing and recommend actions that will strengthen and further the industry on its many levels throughout the Commonwealth.

(PAHRC)