How a horse racing schedule is set
Every live race date at a racino starts as an application to the state racing commission. The track and its horsemen’s group agree on a number of days, the commission approves them, and the result becomes the meet. In many states the casino license depends on running a minimum number of those days, which keeps racing on the calendar.
That is why a horse racing schedule can differ so much between states. Pennsylvania tracks race well over a hundred days a year, while a Nebraska track may card seven. Breed matters too: thoroughbreds, harness horses and quarter horses each have their own circuits and stakes, and tracks plan meets so they do not compete for horses.
Racinos that race all year
Only a handful of racino tracks run live cards in every season. They sit mostly in the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio, where purse money from the gaming floor is large enough to keep horses in training through winter. The table lists tracks whose 2026 calendars covered most or all of the year.
| Track | State | Breed | Season | Race days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parx | PA | Thoroughbred | Year-round, 149 dates in 2026 | Mostly Monday to Wednesday, plus select weekends |
| The Meadows | PA | Harness | Year-round, 169 dates in 2026 | Varies; usual first post 12:45 p.m. |
| Northfield Park | OH | Harness | Year-round, 200+ nights | Four or five nights a week, 6 p.m. |
| Empire City / Yonkers Raceway | NY | Harness | Most of the year | Monday to Friday nights |
| Charles Town | WV | Thoroughbred | Most of the year, 165 dates in 2026 | Thursday to Saturday from April |
| Gulfstream Park | FL | Thoroughbred | Year-round, three meets | Friday to Sunday in the fall meet |
Parx is the clearest example of a year-round thoroughbred racino. Its 2026 calendar held 149 live dates, usually Monday through Wednesday with added Fridays, weekends and holidays. First post was 12:40 p.m. from March through October and 12:05 p.m. in winter, with twilight cards on four Thursdays in July. The track also hosts the Pennsylvania Derby every September.
Charles Town in West Virginia raced Wednesday to Saturday through March 2026, then Thursday to Saturday from April. Many cards start after work for commuters from Maryland and Virginia. Gulfstream Park in Florida also races year-round, splitting its horse racing schedule into a winter Championship Meet, a spring and summer meet and a fall meet.
Harness racing schedule at racinos
Harness racing is the backbone of the racino calendar in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Delaware and New England. Standardbreds can race more often than thoroughbreds, so harness tracks usually card more nights, often with evening post times. The harness racing seasons below come from the 2026 calendars the tracks or the US Trotting Association published.
| Track | State | Season (2026) | Race days and post |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harrah’s Hoosier Park | IN | February 12 to November 28 | Wednesday to Saturday at peak, 5:30 p.m. |
| Mohegan Pennsylvania (Pocono Downs) | PA | February 14 to November 21 | Saturday, Monday, Tuesday at 1 p.m. |
| Saratoga Casino Hotel | NY | February 1 to mid-December | Sunset Saturdays in summer |
| Harrah’s Philadelphia | PA | April 10 to December | Thursday, Friday 12:25 p.m.; Sunday 12:40 p.m. |
| Vernon Downs | NY | April to November | Evening cards |
| Tioga Downs | NY | May to September | Summer cards |
| Scioto Downs | OH | May 7 to September 19 | Tuesday to Saturday |
| Running Aces | MN | May 17 to September 19 | Summer cards |
| Batavia Downs | NY | July 22 to December 19 | Matinee 12:15 p.m. or evening 5 p.m. |
| Red Mile | KY | July 26 to October 10 | Sunday to Wednesday |
| Bally’s Dover | DE | November 2026 to April 2027 | Monday to Thursday, 4:30 p.m. |
The Meadows near Pittsburgh is one of the few North American harness tracks racing in every month. Its 2026 calendar, revised in late September, listed 169 live days, with most cards starting at 12:45 p.m. and a few earlier or evening posts. The Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids, its signature race, ran on July 25.
Northfield Park, south of Cleveland, has raced Standardbreds year-round since 1985 with a 6 p.m. first post and cards of thirteen or fourteen races. The nights move with the seasons: Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from January to May, then Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday in early summer. Admission and parking are free.
New England adds two smaller harness ovals. Plainridge Park in Massachusetts opened its 2026 meet on April 13 for 110 days to November 24, with a 4 p.m. post in spring and summer, 2 p.m. in autumn and 1 p.m. in November. Bangor Raceway, beside Hollywood Casino in Maine, opened on April 26 and closes in early November.
Thoroughbred and quarter horse meets by state
Outside the Mid-Atlantic, most racino thoroughbred meets are seasonal. Northern tracks race from spring to early autumn, Southern and Southwestern tracks fill the cold months, and quarter horses run their own meets in Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. The table summarizes the 2026 thoroughbred and quarter horse calendars at the larger racino tracks.
| Track | State | Breed | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oaklawn | AR | Thoroughbred | November 27, 2026 into spring 2027 |
| Fair Grounds | LA | Thoroughbred | November 19, 2026 to March 21, 2027 |
| Delta Downs | LA | Quarter horse, then thoroughbred | Quarter horses April 24 to July 18; thoroughbreds fall and winter |
| Evangeline Downs | LA | Thoroughbred, then quarter horse | Thoroughbreds April to September; quarter horses October to December |
| Remington Park | OK | Quarter horse, then thoroughbred | Quarter horses March to May; thoroughbreds August 21 to December 19 |
| Penn National | PA | Thoroughbred | February 19 to November 25, nights |
| Mountaineer | WV | Thoroughbred | Spring to autumn, 125 dates |
| Delaware Park | DE | Thoroughbred | May 13 to October 17 |
| Prairie Meadows | IA | Thoroughbred and quarter horse | May 2 to September 26, 76 days |
| Canterbury Park | MN | Thoroughbred and quarter horse | May 23 to September 19 |
| Finger Lakes | NY | Thoroughbred | Late April to late November |
| Sunland Park | NM | Thoroughbred and quarter horse | January 2 to April 5 |
| Zia Park | NM | Quarter horse and thoroughbred | October 31 to December 15 |
Ohio spreads its thoroughbred calendar across three tracks. Jack Thistledown raced from April 20 to October 8 in 2026 and Belterra Park from May 1 to October 12. Mahoning Valley then takes over, with a winter block from January 2 to April 10 and an autumn block from October 19 to December 30.
Nebraska’s newer racinos run some of the shortest meets in the country. Grand Island raced 31 days from February 14 to May 2, 2026, WarHorse Lincoln eleven days from mid-May to mid-June, and WarHorse Omaha seven days from late June. Lake Mac carded a two-day quarter horse meet in July, and Harrah’s Columbus raced from July 24 to August 23.
Horse racing schedule by month
Read across the year, the racino calendar has a clear rhythm. January to March belongs to the South and a few hardy Northern ovals: Oaklawn, Fair Grounds, Gulfstream, Sunland Park and Turfway in Kentucky, plus Parx, Charles Town and the year-round harness tracks. Grand Island in Nebraska and the Hoosier Park harness meet open in February.
April and May bring the biggest change, as Northern tracks reopen almost at once. In 2026 Plainridge opened April 13, Fairmount Park April 14, Jack Thistledown April 20, Prairie Meadows May 2, Delaware Park May 13 and Canterbury Park May 23. Quarter horse seasons start at Delta Downs and Remington Park, and Sunray Park races from mid-April into May.
June to August is the busiest stretch of the horse racing schedule, with nearly every seasonal meet running at once. Colonial Downs races Thursday to Sunday from late June to Labor Day, Ellis Park and Kentucky Downs fill late summer, and Batavia and Red Mile open in late July. From September, Northern meets close one after another.
Signature races at racino tracks
Several notable stakes are run at racinos, and they draw crowds far beyond a normal card. Dates below are the 2026 runnings unless noted. Two famous harness races are often credited to racinos by mistake: the Hambletonian has been run at the Meadowlands, which has no casino, and the Little Brown Jug at a fairground in Ohio.
| Race | Track | Breed | 2026 date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pegasus World Cup (G1) | Gulfstream Park, FL | Thoroughbred | January 24 |
| Florida Derby (G1) | Gulfstream Park, FL | Thoroughbred | Late March |
| Sunland Derby | Sunland Park, NM | Thoroughbred | February 15 |
| Iowa Derby | Prairie Meadows, IA | Thoroughbred | July 10–11 festival |
| Adios Pace for the Orchids | The Meadows, PA | Harness | July 25 |
| West Virginia Derby (G3) | Mountaineer, WV | Thoroughbred | August 9 |
| Charles Town Classic | Charles Town, WV | Thoroughbred | August 28 |
| Pennsylvania Derby (G1) | Parx, PA | Thoroughbred | September 19 |
| Delaware Handicap (G3) | Delaware Park, DE | Thoroughbred | September 26 |
| Oklahoma Derby (G3) | Remington Park, OK | Thoroughbred | September 27 |
| Breeders Crown finals | Scioto Downs, OH | Harness | October 23–24 |
| Arkansas Derby (G1) | Oaklawn, AR | Thoroughbred | April 10, 2027 |
| Louisiana Derby (G2) | Fair Grounds, LA | Thoroughbred | March 20, 2027 |
The Hambletonian is changing venue. After the Meadowlands declined to renew its hosting contract, the Hambletonian Society accepted a bid from Harrah’s Hoosier Park in Anderson, Indiana, on August 13, 2026. The $1 million race for three-year-old trotters will be run there from 2027 through 2029, putting harness racing’s best-known trot at a racino for the first time.
Scioto Downs near Columbus had its own landmark in October 2026, hosting all twelve Breeders Crown championship races in one year for the first time, with eliminations on October 16 and 17 and finals on October 23 and 24. In Yonkers, the summer and autumn harness racing calendar carries the Yonkers Trot, the Messenger and the International Trot.
Winter racing and greyhounds
Cold-weather racing is concentrated in a few places. Turfway Park in northern Kentucky returns on December 2, 2026, racing Wednesday to Saturday with a 5:55 p.m. post. Miami Valley Gaming between Cincinnati and Dayton runs its harness meet from January into spring, and Bally’s Dover races Monday to Thursday afternoons from early November to April.
Two West Virginia racinos still race greyhounds, the only live dog racing left in the country. Mardi Gras near Charleston races Tuesday to Saturday at 6 p.m., and Wheeling Island races Wednesday to Sunday at 1 p.m., each with twelve to twenty races a card. Neither is a horse track, but both follow the same pari-mutuel wagering rules.
How to find the horse racing schedule today
The quickest answer to what is racing today is the track’s own website, which posts the approved calendar, post times, scratches and weather cancellations. Fairmount Park, for example, cancelled its August 15, 2026 card because of a heat forecast. Checking the horse racing schedule today, before driving out, avoids arriving on a dark day or after the last race.
For a wider view, Equibase publishes entries, results and track calendars for every thoroughbred and quarter horse meet, and the United States Trotting Association does the same for harness racing. State racing commissions post the dates they approved. To find which tracks are close, the racinos near me guide groups venues by region and distance.
Simulcasting on dark days
A dark day at the home track rarely means no betting. Most racinos run simulcast areas that show races from across North America and take wagers into the same pari-mutuel pools as the host track. Saratoga Casino Hotel, for instance, takes bets on the thoroughbred meet across town, and Batavia Downs keeps its simulcast center open all year.
Simulcast hours often differ from casino hours, so the betting windows may open late morning and close after the last West Coast race. Kentucky’s historical horse racing venues, such as Derby City Gaming, offer simulcast wagering without a live track. The pari-mutuel betting guide explains win, place, show and the exotic bets offered at the windows.