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On Monday, the intrepid TrackPackPA crew took a trip up to Harrisburg to visit the Standardbred sales. After devouring some delicious burgers at Jackson House, we headed over to the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex- a site to see in itself. You couldn’t even tell where the thing ended, it just went on into the mountains.

Upon entering, perused some of the horse swag they had for sale. Sulkies, rider outfits,and every accessory you could imagine. They even had horse jewelry. Not jewelry for your horse, but, like, necklaces with horses on 'em. It’s pretty obvious that Hanover is king when it comes to Standardbreds. Their orange-and-blue regalia covered a good percentage of the enormous complex.

Little stations were set up, filled with folks staring intently into screens. They were observing a horse’s prerecorded gait and pace: 

We picked up some Black Books, which are the thick catalogs filled with meticulous stats for the hundreds of horses for sale during the week. Our guide walked us around the backside of the compound, allowing us some face time with many of the potential superstars. It was funny walking around and saying "excuse me" to a horse. We rubbed many-a-noses.

We took a seat in the stands just in time for the bidding of Some of the Beach, who was rumored to bring in big bucks (even just as a yearling). There were some pretty good auctions up to this point, but nothing quite like this. The ticker couldn’t keep up with the bids. The air was sucked out of the room. No one wanted to accidentally place a bid and owe a couple hundred thousand. After a prolonged silence, the gavel came down at $430,000. Everyone cheered with a mixture of relief and elation.

The guys getting pat on their backs were the Cancelliere brothers, natives of our border state New Jersey. Turns out these guys were looking to put together a horse farm dream-team. Take a look at the video of their record-setting bid for Detour Hanover- full brother of 2008 Horse of the Year Somebeachsomewhere.

$825,000- shattering the previous Standardbred yearling record sale of $650k.

The Standardbred Sale runs till Saturday at the PA Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA. We’ll be sure to keep you updated with any more record-setting sales!

Oh, and make sure to enter in our Racetrip Giveaway while there's still time!
 

The Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup at Penn National has come and gone for another year, and as the horses cool down, the track lights go off, and the casino heats up, we take a look back at the 2011 Governor’s Cup (full Equibase results, here and full video replays, here). 

An early 5:30 p.m. post time seemed perfect for this horse enthusiast, but a girlfriend with a work schedule didn’t see it that way. Although I missed the first two races, I hope you cashed in on what I left you Friday with Primo Cuore in the second race, who cashed $7.20 on the win ticket to get the evening started right. I rolled in to Penn National at Hollywood Casino parking lot five minutes before race 3, and with a gait to match last year’s Governor’s Cup winner Chamberlain Bridge, made it to the teller just in time to cash in Capitol City Stakes exacta, as Live in Joy was game and drove late to pick up my first victory of the night, and hopefully your second.

With that, it was off to the Mountain View Dining and Terrance lounge to meet some good friends and enjoy some good company as the feature race of the night, the 200,000 dollar Governor’s Cup, sponsored by TVG, was about to start the post parade. I highly recommend for starters the Nacho’s that serve as appetizers, as the regular cheese salsa and meat nachos as well as the buffalo chicken dip is a superb way to fill the Kentucky Derby length amount of time between races.

As the main dishes arrived, New York strip and shrimp all around, the post parade had finally begun. I am not Favorite Frank by any stretch of the imagination, so I did not even need to see how alert Philly Bound looked in the post parade to know I was going to go with Tim Kreiser trained horse on the turf instead of the post-time favorite, Ben's Cat. The race lived up to it’s name as the fastest in Pennsylvania as well as the one with the highest stakes money boarder to boarder, as Ben’s Cat rallied from the middle of the pack as they turned to home to just nip Cardashi and Car Thief at the line to win for the legendary King T. Leatherbury.

Leatherbury, for those who don’t know, is considered a Maryland racing legend by Churchill Downs, and led the state in wins from 1993 until 1996. It probably wasn’t his cleanest win in what has become an incredibly distinguished career. Coming home, it appeared Ben’s Cat brushed Philly Bound, the eventual fifth place finisher, on the way to the line, but no issue was found by the stewards, although my tickets and others in the surrounding gallery certainly wish their was!

After that, it was time for a stroll outside to clear our heads and get ready for the Hanover Stakes. Penn National recently finished construction on a stairwell leading from the upper “D” level to the ground floor, eliminating the brutal waits for the race tracks two elevators. Outside on Penn National’s spacious track side seating, which includes picnic tables and a fantastic view of the paddock area, Matthewsburg and jockey Victor Lebrun looked sharp and ready to run invading from Indiana Downs and Delaware Park, respectively, but low and behold, Frankie Pennington and Poseidon’s Warrior never strayed from far the lead and eased their way home to end my night on a sour note.

Without a doubt, though, this year’s version of the Governor’s Cup featured everything track lovers can agree on; strong turf racing, plenty of great choices for food and good company, and a card full of stake races.

Until next time, see ya at the track.

You can follow Greg Pickel on Twitter at @gregpickel

Check back in for more events, specials, and good times at Penn National Race Course! 

(Betty White and a horse via Morris Animal Foundation Facebook)

   Welcome to the first installment of The Wednesday Racetrip! Since this is our inaugural post, allow us to offer a bit of introduction:

The Wednesday Roadtrip is a weekly report (duh) highlighting all the recreations, accommodations, and consumptions that our great state has to offer. Pivoted around the six beautiful PA horseracing tracks that stretch all across the state, we promise to provide you with fresh and fun places in every corner of the map! All we ask from you is an open mind and the willingness to get weird.

Today’s Roadtrip is based around the Penn National Racetrack in Grantville, PA!

The Niche

AACA museum
(15 min from track)
All you motor-heads out there, welcome to heaven. They’ve got two amazing stainless-steel cars from 1935, INDY 500 pace cars, and for some reason, Betty White’s Cadillac. The history of four-wheels is written behind these doors.

The Sweet:
Stoudts Brewery, Goods Market and Antiques

(1 hour from Track)
The Stoudts compound is an interesting hub of delightfulness. It features a beer garden, antique mall, Black Angus restaurant, and a “Wonderful Good Market” housing homemade artesian breads and cheeses.

• Nearby: The Yeungling brewery is a PA namesake that we’re sure you’re already familiar with.

Berks county Wine Trail
(40 min from track)

Wine, oh! Eight wineries of distinctive varieties all within a stones throw of each other. Diversity is the spice of life!

The Neat:

City Island, Harrisburg PA

(25 min from Track)

If this place were a car it’d be a party bus. Or maybe Betty White’s Cadillac. Tons of things to do- Harriburg Senators baseball, riverboat rides, golf, and the adventure-inducing Susquehanna Outfitters just to name a few.

• Nearby: The State Capitol: It’s our own Versailles- spectacular, inspiring, and as beautiful as Zenyatta in the final stretch. The rotunda itself is a mere 52 million pounds. Free tours are available.

The Sleep:

The Milestone Inn
(25 min from Track)
Take the most luxurious hotel you can dream up, and boil it down to four private rooms and you’ve got the Milestone Inn. Breakfast recipes come straight from the owners grandma- so don’t think you’re gonna get it anywhere else!

Where to Ride, Nearby:

Last but not least: where to ride! The beautiful Kindred Spirits Farm is about an hour west of Penn National, but a drive at any length is worth it. Located at the foot of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, their expansive trails offer a glimpse of what Pennsylvania trails might have looked hundreds of years ago- wildlife and all.

Browse around our site for all the events, specials, and entertainment actually AT Penn National! Weekend post times for 2011 are Fridays: 5PM and Saturdays: 5PM.

SIDENOTE: Whilst researching the vastness that makes up Pennsylvania, we came up with a few jokes you can keep in your back pocket:

• Where do musical cows hangout? Moosic, PA.
• What’s George Orwell’s favorite town? Eighty Four, PA.
• What’s worth two in the bush? Bird in the Hand, PA.
• (Omitted Jokes: Intercourse, Pa, Climax, PA, Blue Ball, PA, etc.)

Looking for an affordable, local, and most importantly FUN vacation? Is it October? Is it February? Is it June? Doesn't matter what month it is! Harrisburg and Hershey PA are a fun area to visit any time of year! If the harness racing, gambling, and dining at Penn National isn't enough, check out some of these awesome places.

Restaurant Row, Harrisburg PA

Fine dining, bar specials, international cuisine, or quick bites- whatever you want on restaurant row you can get! Harrisburg's rich historical background isn't the only draw to this bustling city. Come check out the energetic nightlife and live music!

Indian Echo Taverns

Open daily, these caverns offer a truly unique experience that's exciting and at the same time educational. What makes this a year-round attraction is that the caverns are a constant 52 degrees year round. So come hang out in this 440 million year old party den.

Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex

This humongous indoor venue boasts more than 200 shows and happenings all year round. If you're looking to make your horse racing vacation a bit more animal oriented- this is the place to go. Horse shows, flea markets, rodeo finals, motorcycle shows, cheerleading competitions- the list goes on. Check out their site for a monthly calendar of events!

Troegs Brewing Company

Full disclosure- I'm slightly biased on this one. Troegs makes a high quality craft beer that's accessible to a standard drinkers palette. The taproom is open weekdays from 11am–5pm and offers free samples, and take-outs. Brewery tours are Saturdays, 12-4pm. Check it out! Also, check out our previous post on Troegs!

Hershey's Chocolate World

Although the Hershey Amusement Park isn't open all year round, the Chocolate world is! Who needs rollercoaster's anyway? Take the chocolate tour! Or create your own candy bar! Or create your own dessert! Go on a chocolate taste testing adventure with a chocolate expert who's a doctor (seriously)! You know it sounds like fun.

So, now there's no reason to wait for summer or winter break for that next vacation. Let Harrisburg and Hershey be your best horse racing vacation any time of the year!

We just posted a whole batch of new events on the calendar section. We included some great summer-fun type things (fireworks! street fairs!), concerts, outdoorsy stuff and more.

The object of the game here is to help you find fun things to do with your time that complements a trip to go watch some horse racing. This great state of ours is full of fun stuff to do and, in the parlance of the horse world from which we find inspiration, we'd like to give you a leg up finding it.

Spring has sprung! The weekend's coming up and there's live racing at Penn National, Philadelphia Park and The Meadows. Do I hear ROAD TRIP?!?

If you're like me, The Meadows sounds like a nice place to visit, but where in the heck is it? Parx sounds spacious, but is it? And Penn National seems important, but I wouldn't know how to get there if you turned me loose on the open road.

Here it goes. Ready?

The Meadows. Close to Pittsburgh! Washington County has a whole website full of stuff to do, but off the top of my head I say check out the Andy Warhol Museum while you're there. I would. A friend is also recommending the Primanti Bros sandwich place. She says there's sawdust on the ground and french fries in almost everything.

Penn National. Close to Harrisburg! This could be a pretty outdoors-y weekend if you wanted it to be. Tons of outside stuff that's either like nature-outside or like Hershey Park-outside. The casino at Penn National books some pretty fun bands and it's free, so check the schedule when you go.

Philadelphia Park. Close to Center City Philadelphia. The thing that's cool about Bucks County, where the track is, is that there are so many awesome country roads to drive around. Horse farms and stuff like that. Just go get lost, don't be shy. There's also a great Indian food place not far from the track called Oven. Make a stop there, it's good! I can't find it on the Internet right now, but it's on Street Road and in a strip mall. At night- head to the city. Bright lights and dining, darling!