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Adios stakes race probably moving to Pocono Downs for 2008

It has been raced at the Meadows since beginning in 1967. From Harnessracing.com-

The Meadows is working on an agreement to move its signature race, the Delvin Miller Adios, to Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs for one year, while the new casino building is being constructed on the track’s property. The new building is scheduled to open in early 2009, which would allow for the return of the Adios. Both The Meadows and Pocono are five-eighths mile racing ovals.

Meanwhile, The Meadows also plans to ask the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission for permission to drop Saturday racing in 2008. Track general manager John Marshall told Harness Tracks of America that business has been tough in the afternoon market on Saturdays.

Both tracks are virtually the same, just in different parts of Pennsylvania. The move makes sense, though I am sure local businesses in Washington PA aren’t happy with the one year move.

On a personal note- The only time the Adios finished in a dead heat, was 1972 between Strike Out and Jay Time. Both those horses were rivals of Fast Clip, a horse then owned by my father. Clip didn’t race in the Adios that year. It may have had something to do with an accident that happened in July 72 where the horse’s leg wraps were applied too tightly causing a loss of circulation. A serious injury to a race horse, that caused Clip not to race for almost a month.

A month after the Adios, Strike Out and Jay Time were at it again in the first heat of The Little Brown Jug. I wonder if Keith Waples decision to park Jay Time as the two horses went the 1st quarter in 27 flat had something to do with what happened at The Adios. Jay Time finished last in the Jug’s first heat, and had to be scratched from the second race.

I was to a Adios race in either 1973 or 1974. My father didn’t have a horse in the event, but saw the race take place. Other than Pompano Park in Florida, Pocono Downs is the last harness track I been to. I went there with my father sometime in the mid-80′s.

The Meadows joins a long list of race tracks in financial difficulty. Hosting one of racing’s premier events doesn’t protect any horse venue these days.

 
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