The 2013 Pennsylvania stakes season kicks off in earnest Wednesday, May 15 with Stallion Series action for three-year-old fillies, trotters at the Meadows and pacers at Harrah's Philadelphia.

These events will be followed by their companion Pennsylvania sire stakes races on Thursday at Harrah's Philadelphia and on Friday at the Meadows.

2012 division champion Somwherovrarainbow headlines the Thursday pacing action at Harrah's Philadelphia. A daughter of the great mare Rainbow Blue, Somwherovrarainbow was third in her seasonal debut at the Meadowlands Racetrack, but she improved with racing last year, and figures to do again in 2013 and in this second start of the campaign.

The final of the four divisions is also intriguing, as last year’s PASS champion Handsoffmycupcake will be challenged by Charisma Hanover, three-for-three this year for the red-hot combination of trainer Ron Burke and driver Yannick Gingras.

In the trotting action Friday at the Meadows, Frau Blucher returns to the track where she won her divisional championship in 2012. Named after the Cloris Leachman character in Mel Brooks’s famous film 'Young Frankenstein,' the diamond-gaited miss sits literally and figuratively behind the eight-ball, Post 8, but brings in another red-hot duo in driver Jim Morrill Jr. and trainer Chris Oakes.

The card will kick off with a PASS division headed by Defiant Donato, three-for-three for trainer Jim Campbell in 2013, with Hall of Fame driver Dave Palone slated for sulky action.

FINISHING LINES – Please note the five-day race rule that has previously applied to the Stallion Series will also apply to all 2013 Pennsylvania pari-mutuel sire stakes harness racing….Also, please note that May 15 payments for the various Pennsylvania programs are to be postmarked by Wednesday May 15. Payments are due for all groups except three-year-old pari-mutuel competitors and those two-year-olds not racing in stakes this year. Please call 717-787-5539 or email [email protected] for forms or more information.

(PASS)