Hollywood Casino at The Meadows and Hollywood Casino at Penn National are teaming up to offer a multi-leg, crossbreed Pick 4, where horseplayers must pick the winners of the first and second Thoroughbred races at Penn National and the fourth and fifth Standardbred races at The Meadows.
The Meadows-Penn Pick 4 will be offered on Friday evenings with a low takeout of 12 per cent and a 50-cent minimum wager. Both tracks are owned and operated by Penn Entertainment.
The Meadows-Penn Pick 4 will begin on Friday, July 14 and will run through the summer. The Pick 4 sequence will have an approximate run time of 45 minutes with the following estimated post times:
- Leg 1 – Penn National Race 1 – Approximate post 6 p.m.
- Leg 2 – Meadows Race 4 – Approximate post 6:18 p.m.
- Leg 3 – Penn National Race 2 – Approximate post 6:30 p.m.
- Leg 4 – Meadows Race 5 – Approximate post 6:40 p.m.
“With our Friday night schedules aligning, we saw this as a great opportunity to try something new and expose each breed to fans on the other side,” said Eric Johnston, Director of Racing at Penn National. “In addition to the low takeout, we also expect to have full fields for each of the legs of the race, which is something we know is important to players.”
“We’ve put a very low takeout on the wager of 12 per cent,” said Scott Lishia, Director of Racing at The Meadows. “Horseplayers look for those low takeout opportunities, so hopefully, this will attract some interest. It’s a way of taking normal, standard wagers out there, like the Pick-4, and trying to freshen them up a bit. Maybe it’ll be enticing to some people, but we won’t know for sure until we give it a try.”
The two tracks also hope their geographic proximity – they are located only a couple of hours apart–- will create some synergy between their respective fan bases. The Meadows is located in Washington Township in western Pennsylvania and Penn National is located in Grantville in central Pennsylvania.
Free past performances for every live race at the Meadows are available through the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association at meadowsharnessracing.com. In addition, the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Association, a non-profit that markets and promotes horse racing in Pennsylvania, will offer free PPs for Penn National on its website for Friday, July 14, 21, 28, and Aug. 4 at pennhorseracing.com.
(With files from The Meadows/Penn National)