The Adios is back at the Meadows.
Following a one-year hiatus, when Pocono Downs graciously staged the event during racino construction at the Meadows, the Delvin Miller Adios has returned to its home track.
The Adios will offer a total purse estimated at $820,000, richest in the 43-year history of the race. For the first time at the Meadows, the 'Pace for the Orchids' will feature eliminations and a final on separate days, an innovation introduced last year at Pocono to enhance the event’s attractiveness to horsemen.
Adios eliminations -- to be drawn Tuesday, July 21 -- are scheduled for Friday, July 24. The final and $50,000 consolation are scheduled for Saturday, August 1.
Following a break for the weekend of July 25-26, Adios Week continues on Monday, July 27, with Grand Circuit stakes racing featured Monday through Thursday. Top two and three-year-olds of both gaits and sexes will be strutting their stuff.
On Friday, July 31, the Meadows will offer four $50,000 invitational races, with Pennsylvania-owned or sired horses preferred. First race post time that day and for both Adios cards is 12:15 p.m. All other Adios Week cards begin at 6:20 p.m.
The Adios card on August 1 will be one of the most powerful ever offered by the Meadows, with purses for many of the races enriched by a contribution from the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association. In addition to the Adios final and consolation, the schedule that day includes the $225,000 Quinton Patterson Adioo Volo for three-year-old pacing fillies; the $100,000 Gov. Lawrence for two-year-old pacing colts, and the debut of the Catherine Baker Knoll, a $100,000 event for two-year-old pacing fillies. The latter race is in honour of the memory of the late Catherine Baker Knoll, former Pennsylvania lieutenant governor.
(With files from the Meadows)