Sun Stakes Saturday brings the stars to Pocono

The financial lure of $2,300,000 in purses, plus in many cases divisional bragging rights, have attracted many of harness racing’s stars to Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania this Saturday afternoon for its biggest card of the year, Sun Stakes Saturday. The 14-race program, starting at 2:30 p.m., is bringing to the mountain oval many of the best horses in North American harness racing, both this year and in recent campaigns.

The major format of the day is as follows: each of the four divisions of 3-year-olds, separated by sex and gait, are seeded by their money earnings in 2024, with a maximum of eight horses per field. The two stakes for males, the Earl Beal Memorial Trot and the Max C. Hempt Memorial Pace, will race for $300,000, $200,000, and $100,000 in three races for each respective group as sorted by seasonal money winnings. The James Lynch Memorial Pace and Delmonica Hanover Trot, the companion events for fillies, have $250,000-$125,000-$75,000 sections, also separated by 2024 earnings.

There will also be $100,000 Invitationals for the top older horses on both gaits: the Always B Miki Pace and the Sebastian K S Trot, named after the co-fastest pacer and fastest trotter ever at Pocono.