After touring The Meadows backstretch earlier this week, Pennsylvania State Senator Camera Bartolotta took to social media to encourage her followers to get involved in harness racing through fractional ownership with TheStable.ca.

The Meadows Standardbred Owners Association (MSOA) welcomed the Republican Senator to tour the Pennsylvania racetrack's backstretch on Tuesday and discuss the $1.6 billion economic impact horse racing and breeding has on the region.

Bartolotta toured the stable of St. Catharines, Ont. native Tim Twaddle at The Meadows and discussed his partnership with the Canadian-created fractional ownership program, TheStable.ca. Co-founded by Guelph, Ont. horseman Anthony MacDonald, TheStable.ca partners with trainers across many major North American racing jurisdictions and provides fans an affordable opportunity to participate in the horse racing industry as an owner of shares in racehorses.

"The year-round backstretch operation at The Meadows is a huge incentive for trainers to relocate their families here and start a stable," said Bartolotta in a social media post on Wednesday. "It's like a bustling little town back there!

"Right now horse racing depends on people coming through the turnstiles, and Tim's partnership with Anthony MacDonald, co-founder of The Stable, offers an exciting incentive to bring more people of all ages to the track. Anthony's program let's YOU, yes YOU, literally be a horse owner. Through fractional ownership, you (or with a group of your friends) can own as little as 1% of a racing horse. Most of us will never own a piece of a NASCAR, but you can experience the thrill of horse racing with skin in the game. You can finally say, 'My horse is racing tonight!'"

Bartolotta, who attended qualifiers and rode in the starting gate during her visit to the track, also met Pennsylvania horsemen Ron Burke and Dave Palone, the industry's all-time leading trainer and driver for wins.

Bartolotta encouraged her followers to attend the family-friendly racetrack in Washington County which will host live racing on Wednesdays through Saturdays starting on Wednesday, April 23 following its spring break.

(With files from The Office of Senator Camera Bartolotta; Photo, left to right, of Tim Twaddle, Camera Bartolotta, MSOA's Dawnelle Mock and Anthony MacDonald)