No conflicts on PASS 3CT leaderboard

Four of the eight 3-year-old male trotters at the top of the leaderboard for the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes (PASS) championship, scheduled for Sept. 4 at The Meadows, competed in the recent $1.5 million Hambletonian final, including elimination winners Cassis and Pilgrims Taj (the 2009 PASS 2-year-old colt trot champion), who stand first and fifth in the PASS standings, respectively.

Other PASS leaders who lined up behind the gate for the Hambo final are On The Tab, who won the Yonkers Trot in July, and Hard Livin, who finished fourth in the Yonkers Trot. A fifth leader in PASS action is Pilgrims Chuckie, who started in the Hambo elims but failed to advance.

In the past, there have been conflicts between the PASS colt trot final and major open stakes, such as the World Trotting Derby (WTD) and/or the Canadian Trotting Classic (CTC). With this year’s WTD cancelled, and the CTC elims on Sept. 11, there are no conflicts with the PASS final.

There are a couple of recent instances where scheduling led to some juggling by the connections of a PASS championship-eligible trotter. Just last year the connections of Photoforwin decided following the gelding’s third-place finish in the World Trotting Derby to bypass the PASS championship race and instead race that same night in the Canadian Trotting Classic elims. Photoforwin finished fourth in his elim but then had a seventh-place finish in the final.

In 2005 the Hambletonian winner Vivid Photo was on a path for the PASS final but his connections decided to pass on that race and enter the gelding in the World Trotting Derby that was scheduled the same day. Vivid Photo won the WTD in straight heats that September afternoon.

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