Presque Isle Downs begins its meet Monday afternoon
The Presque Isle Downs live meet gets underway Monday and will run through Oct. 23.
The opening-day card in Erie, Pa., features eight races and begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT. The featured race is a six-furlong sprint for first-level allowance horses ages 3 and up.
The 3-1 morning-line favorite in the opening-day feature is Stargazzers Dream for trainer Kelsey Danner. A gray son of Bucchero, Stargazzers Dream won twice over the Tapeta at Turfway during the winter meet and makes his first start since finishing third in a $50,000 starter-allowance sprint there on March 27.
All races at the Presque Isle Downs meet will be run on the Tapeta track. Most weeks will feature three days of racing, Monday through Wednesday, with first post at 3:30 p.m. EDT. During the week of July 4 the track will race Monday, June 30, go dark July 1, and then run July 2 through July 3. The track also will run Friday cards on Aug. 15 and Sept. 19 and will race Monday through Thursday in October until closing day, Oct. 23.
The track will run its signature event, the Grade 2 Presque Isle Masters , on Sept. 19. The only graded stakes on the track's calendar, the race is a 6 1/2-furlong Tapeta sprint open to fillies and mares ages 3 and older. Other stakes on the track's flagship day include the 1 1/16-mile Presque Isle Mile for horses 3 and up, the H.B.P.A. Stakes at a mile and 70 yards for fillies and mares 3 and up, the 6 1/2-furlong Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial for juveniles and the 6 1/2-furlong Presque Isle Debutant for juvenile fillies.
The Presque Isle Masters is best known for being Groupie Doll's final prep race before winning the Breeder's Cup Filly and Mare sprint in both 2012 and 2013. But class has been present throughout its history. Its first edition in 2007 was won by Miss Macy Sue, who went on to distinguish herself in the breeding shed by producing both prominent sire Not This Time and multiple Grade 1-winner and sire Liam's Map. In 2024 the race was won by Christophe Clement trainee Roses for Debra, who is a graded-stakes winner on the turf at Saratoga and Keeneland.