Hoosier Park will present a new racing option during the upcoming 2009 Standardbred season. The 80-day meet, which begins Tuesday, March 24, will offer
several new late closing series for both trotters and pacers in the conditioned ranks along with several claiming series for pacers.
The “Future Stars” series kicks off the first week of racing with trotters in action Wednesday, March 25 and pacers beginning Friday, March 27 with three $6,000 preliminary legs.
The top 10 from each series will return for the $15,000 (est.) finals Friday, April 17 for pacers and Tuesday, April 28 for trotters. A similar series will be held for pacing fillies and mares each Saturday following a comparable format with the $15,000 (est.) final held Saturday, April 18.
The “Claim To Fame” series gets underway Tuesday, March 31 for $10,000 claimers. The series will offer three $8,000 preliminary rounds followed by a $20,000 (est.) final. The second round of the series will be offered to horses racing for a claiming price of $20,000, rolling through three $12,000 preliminary rounds followed by a $30,000 (est.) final.
Claiming horses in the lower ranks will have an opportunity to show off their talents in the “Survivor Series” geared toward $5,000 claimers. The series begins Thursday, April 16 with 40 spots in four races. Only 20 horses will come back for two races in round two Thursday, April 23. The $15,000 championship will be held Thursday, April 30 for the top 10 horses.
“I’m very excited to get in the office and start preparing for the 2009 season,” said racing secretary Gregg Keidel. “We had more than 1,000 stall applications for 840 available stalls.”
To download nominations forms, click here.
Standardbred racing returns Tuesday, March 24 with racing held Tuesday through Saturday. Post time is 4:45 p.m. every evening except Saturday when the first race post is 12:45 p.m.
(Hoosier Park)