Stacked field set for Hempt Memorial at Pocono

At 0h04, on August 16, 2025 • By Ken Weingartner, USTA Media Relations Manager

There will be plenty of firepower in Saturday’s $300,000 Grade 2 Max C. Hempt Memorial at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, where five of the season’s seven fastest 3-year-old male pacers in North America will meet in a field of eight.

Prince Hal Hanover, coming off wins in the Grade 2 Carl Milstein Memorial and Grade 1 Adios in his past two starts, received the 5-2 morning-line nod. Captain Optimistic, who posted a career-best 1:48.1 triumph in the Grade 2 Cane Pace in his most recent start on Aug. 2, was made the 3-1 second choice followed by Twisted Destiny, who counts the Grade 2 MGM Grand Messenger Stakes in June among his victories, at 4-1.

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