race dates

The 2026 race dates for four Ontario racetracks--Woodbine Racetrack, Woodbine Mohawk Park, Fort Erie Race Track and Ajax Downs--have been approved by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), it was announced Wednesday. The number of racing days per track:   Woodbine Racetrack (Thoroughbred) - 128   Woodbine Mohawk Park (Standardbred) - 222 (for all of 2026 counting dates already allocated from Jan. 1 through Mar. 31, 2026.   Fort Erie Race Track (Thoroughbred) - 34   Ajax Downs (Quarter Horse)...

Both Charles Town Races (165 dates) and Mountaineer Park (125 dates) got approval Dec. 16 from the West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC) to finalize live racing schedules for 2026. The awarding of race dates in West Virginia is annually an outdated, several step process. A state statute requires Charles Town to apply for 220 programs every year, and Mountaineer is required to apply for 210 dates. But those quotas haven't been reached for quite some time. So what has ended up happening in recent seasons is that after the initial...

The Oregon Racing Commission approved 18 fairs-circuit dates at four tracks for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses in 2026 during its Thursday meeting. The Eastern Oregon Livestock Show meet in Union traditionally kicks off the state's summer fairs circuit. It will race June 12-14 in '26. Grants Pass Downs, in the southern tier of the state, will race June 20, 21, 27, 28 and July 3-5. Crooked River Roundup in Prineville, which races at night, will race July 15-18. Tillamook County Fair in coastal Tillamook will race Aug. 5-8. In 2025,...

The New Jersey Racing Commission on Wednesday approved a 2026 Thoroughbred schedule of 50 spring/summer dates at Monmouth Park and nine for an all-turf autumn meet at the Meadowlands, mirroring the state's allotment of racing days in 2025. A one-day steeplechase license for Far Hills in '26 is expected to be okayed by the commission at a subsequent date upon completion of local approvals. The exact opening and closing dates for the meets were not discussed at the Nov. 18 meeting. In the post-pandemic era, New Jersey's Thoroughbred dates allotments...

The number of race days was lower and so was wagering compared to a year ago in March, according to information released by Equibase on Friday. Total wagering of $931,202,013 on races during the month represented a 4.20% decrease over the same period from 2024, while available purses of almost $98 million were lower by 4.23%. The figure of over $93 million for paid purses in March was also down by 4.84%. As for the total number of race days, they decreased from 285 to 263 (-7.72%) and the number...

In an era when most racetracks in the mid-Atlantic region are paring race dates from their yearly schedules to reflect the declining number of available horses to fill races, Colonial Downs is an outlier. Under the ownership of the gaming company Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the Virginia track announced in August that it plans to increase its race dates to 44 in 2025 after racing 27 programs this year. On Thursday, by Bill Carstanjen, CDI's chief executive officer, said during a quarterly earnings conference call that he expects the number...

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) released its 2024 schedule, which includes 195 live racing days at Aqueduct Racetrack and Saratoga Race Course, the organization said in a release Thursday morning. As previously announced, the ongoing construction at Belmont Park will require significant adjustments to the customary schedule. In addition to the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival being held at Saratoga Race Course from June 6-9, the fall and spring/summer meets traditionally held at Belmont will take place at Aqueduct Racetrack in 2024. Following the conclusion of the 2023...

Racing dates for the 21st season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing at Horseshoe Indianapolis were approved by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission (IHRC) at their regular meeting Dec. 1 held at Harrah's Hoosier Park. A total of 123 racing days are on the calendar with six all-Quarter Horse racing days included in the overall total. One of the biggest changes for the 2023 racing season is the addition of several Saturday dates from June 3 through Sept. 2. Five of those dates are allotted for Quarter Horse racing with...

Edited Press Release During Wednesday's meeting of the Texas Racing Commission meeting, Sam Houston Park General Manager Dwight Berube confirmed that the Houston-area track will apply for 43 live race dates in 2023, beginning Jan. 6, 2023. The 2023 Texas live racing schedule will be similar to 2022, as Lone Star Park has already applied for 48 days. While plans for the overall stakes program have not been finalized, the 2023 race meet at Sam Houston will feature the inaugural running of the $100,000 Texas Thoroughbred Association Derby and Oaks...

Citing an inability to support three days of racing per week, Hawthorne Race Course asked for and received permission from the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) to drop the remaining five Sundays from its current Thoroughbred meet that runs through June 25. This is the first season in recent Illinois history with the scheduled-to-be-sold Arlington International Racecourse not running a summer meet, which has led to a thinned horse population this spring at Hawthorne. The Hawthorne season started Apr. 2 with just Saturday and Sunday racing. Fridays were added May 6,...

Jason Boulet, the Fair Grounds director of racing, was repeatedly pressed by Louisiana State Racing Commission (LSRC) member Tom Calvert Tuesday about whether or not his track would once again seek a statutory change to reduce its required number of race dates from 80 to 75 when the state legislature convenes its 2022 session Mar. 14. The exchange did not yield a definitive answer beyond Boulet's disclosure that the Fair Grounds and its corporate parent, the gaming firm Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), would be in favor of participating in discussions...

Kentucky's live racing schedule for 2022 will largely mirror this season's template of race dates according to a calendar approved Tuesday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. The following three tweaks stand out from 2021: 1) Churchill Downs will race through July 4 instead of closing in late June; 2) Kentucky Downs was granted a seventh racing date, up from six; 3) Keeneland Race Course will host the Breeders' Cup the first Friday and Saturday in November, directly book-ended by live racing at Churchill on the dates right before and...