race dates

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...

The New York Racing Association released its 2022 racing calendar with 202 live race days at Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack and Saratoga Race Course. The 2021-22 Aqueduct winter meet will run from Thursday, Dec. 9 through Sunday, Mar. 27 with live racing generally conducted four days per week in January and February and three days per week in March. The 15-day Aqueduct spring meet will open Thursday Mar. 31 and conclude on Sunday, Apr. 24. Live racing will be conducted Thursday-Sunday. Highlighted by the 154th running of the GI Belmont...

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission approved a request for dates for the 2022 racing season at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino during a Tuesday meeting. The 127-day racing season will begin Apr. 19 and end Nov. 23, 2022. The schedule marks the most racing dates in one season for Indiana Grand. The bulk of the racing season will be contested Monday through Thursday. First post Monday through Wednesday will be 2:30 p.m. while racing on Thursdays will begin at 3:30 p.m. Of the 127 days, seven will be Saturday cards...

The upcoming fall race meet at Turf Paradise, scheduled to run Nov. 5 through May 7, hangs in the balance over equine safety concerns after another contentious Arizona Racing Commission Meeting, Thursday. The Arizona horsemen, headed by the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (AZHBPA), currently refuse to sign the race-meet contract until a set of track maintenance upgrades, along with various other welfare and management-related requests, have been met. These concerns spring from a 2020-2021 Turf Paradise race-meet marred by a high number of equine fatalities. "We would like...

The July 30 deadline for applying for Illinois 2022 race dates came and went with no surprise move that might have buoyed the near-future fate of Arlington International Racecourse. If anything, suburban Chicago's landmark Thoroughbred track inched closer to permanent closure Friday, because Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the gaming corporation that owns the up-for-sale landmark, failed to file even a placeholder application to race next year that could have been transferred to a buyer willing to keep the sport afloat. Nor did CDI ask the Illinois Racing Board for race...

Dates for the 2021 Thoroughbred racing season at Colonial Downs were approved Wednesday by the Virginia Racing Commission at its quarterly meeting, which was held virtually. The seven-week campaign will run from July 19 to Sept. 1 with racing scheduled every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The meet will include a total of 21 race dates. The stable area and track will open for training July 5 and will close Sept. 8. "Purses are projected to average at least $500,000 per day absent any unforseen events like an increase of the...