Following the smashing success of trotters racing on the grass course at Rockingham Park last Saturday, the pacers will take center stage and try the turf this coming Saturday, August 8 at the venerable 103-year-old racetrack
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Rockingham raced harness horses on the turf course, which heretofore had always been the exclusive domain of the thoroughbreds, for the first time in its history on August 1st and the pair of trotting races was only the sixth time that standardbreds had raced on the grass at any track in North America. All of the races were contested at the standard distance of one mile.
While turf racing at various distances is an every day occurrance for thoroughbreds at tracks all across America, it is an anomoly for standardbreds, which race on their preferred main track surface of crushed limestone. The other grass races for standardbreds were held at Indiana Downs on October 29, 2005 and on October 10, 2006 and then at The Meadowlands on July 24th, 2009.
Rockingham will card one or two grass races for pacers on Saturday, weather permitting, and the fields will drawn this Wednesday.
Also on Saturday, the track will giveaway a custom designed Rockingham Park hat to every paid admission over 18 while supplies last. Racing fans can watch and wager on the Hambletonian, which is the most prestigious and coveted leg of the trotting Triple Crown for three-year-olds, as well as the prestigious thoroughbred racing at Saratoga and other tracks around the country. Post time is 1:05 p.m.
(Rockingham Park)