Southwind Gendry, Summa Cum Laude top Saturday stakes at The Meadows

The 2021 stakes season kicks off with a bang Saturday (May 1) at The Meadows when the track hosts a $153,856 Pennsylvania Sires Stake for sophomore colt and gelding pacers — featuring Southwind Gendry and Summa Cum Laude, a pair of the division’s prospective superstars.

In addition to the sires stake, the card offers a $100,000 PA Stallion Series event for 3-year-old male pacers. The 13-race live program and the Derby Day festivities begin at the special post time of 11:25 a.m.

The PASS will see a pair of last year’s top freshmen, both from the Ron Burke stable, kick off their sophomore campaigns in the same division, which goes as race six.

Southwind Gendry not only won the PASS championship, but he also scored in such other prestigious events as the Matron Stake and splits of the Bluegrass and the International Stallion. The Always B Miki-Gambler’s Passion gelding, a $30,000 yearling purchase, banked $583,069 for owners Burke Racing Stable, Phillip Collura, Knox Services and J&T Silva-Purnel & Libby.

Despite those accomplishments — and his flashy mark of 1:50f — perhaps his most impressive strength is his ability to get the job done on any size track, with any trip.

“He just wants to win. That’s innate to him and it’s probably his biggest advantage,” Burke says. “He’s come back perfect, just as good as he was at the end of last year.”

Southwind Gendry leaves from post five with Yannick Gingras aboard. He’ll have to be sharp to outperform his stablemate, Summa Cum Laude, who was nearly as distinguished last year but, Burke says, puzzling at times.

The son of Somebeachsomewhere-Western Graduate pulled off one of the shockers of 2020, dead heating with Perfect Sting — at nearly 22-1 — to share the Breeders Crown championship. Perfect Sting finished the season unbeaten and waltzed off with the division’s Dan Patch Award.

“We (Burke Racing, Collura, Weaver Bruscemi and the Silva-Purnel-Libby group) gave a lot for him ($260,000), and he looked like a million dollars,” Burke says. “But he wasn’t as good on a five-eighths-mile track as he was on a mile track. Horses that normally couldn’t touch him on a mile track would beat him on the smaller track. He’s a little better gaited this year, but with him, we’ll be shooting for the big races at the big tracks because that’s where he excels.”

Summa Cum Laude has drawn post three with Dexter Dunn in the sulky.