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Horses leaving the starting gate on the dirt track at Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville, Indiana
Photo: Wowzers122, CC BY-SA 4.0
Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses in Shelbyville

Horseshoe Indianapolis: Racing Schedule, Casino and the Indiana Derby

Horseshoe Indianapolis is the Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racino in Shelbyville, a short drive southeast of Indianapolis. It pairs a one-mile dirt track and a seven-eighths-mile turf course with the larger of Indiana's two racino casinos, which runs about 1,500 gaming machines and 85 live tables. The Grade 3 Indiana Derby is its headline race each July.

The property opened for racing in 2003 as Indiana Downs, added a casino called Indiana Live! in March 2009, and traded as Indiana Grand Racing & Casino for most of the following decade. Caesars Entertainment bought it in 2018 and switched the name to Horseshoe in January 2022. Live racing runs from April into November.

Racecard

Horseshoe Indianapolis Racing & Casino at a glance

Venue type
Racino
Location
4300 N Michigan Rd, Shelbyville, IN 46176
Owner / operator
Caesars Entertainment
Racetrack
One-mile dirt oval and seven-eighths-mile turf course
Live racing
Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse
Racing season
April 7 to November 13, 2026
Gaming
Slots, video poker, live table games, poker room and sportsbook
Machines
1,489 electronic gaming devices (Indiana Gaming Commission, August 2026)
Table games
85 table games (Indiana Gaming Commission, August 2026)
Poker
World Series of Poker room
Sportsbook
Caesars Sportsbook (retail)
Hotel
No on-site hotel; partner hotels nearby
Dining
Jack Binion's Steak, Brew Brothers, Clubhouse Dining, Sidewalk Café
Opened
Racing 2003, casino 2009
Minimum age
21 for the casino and sportsbook
Official website
caesars.com
Directions
Open in map

Horseshoe Indianapolis at a glance

ItemDetail
RacingThoroughbred and Quarter Horse
TrackOne-mile dirt, seven-eighths-mile turf
2026 meetApril 7 – November 13
Gaming1,489 machines, 85 tables (August 2026)
Signature racesIndiana Derby (G3), Indiana Oaks (G3)

Horseshoe Indianapolis is the only Indiana track that offers flat racing, so every Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse race run in the state on a pari-mutuel license happens here. The sister property, Harrah’s Hoosier Park in Anderson, covers harness racing. Both belong to Caesars, and both are covered on the Indiana racinos page.

The 2026 racing schedule

The 2026 meet is the track’s 24th season. It opened on Tuesday, April 7, with nine races, including two $55,000 handicaps such as the Merrill C. Roberts. The approved calendar closes on Friday, November 13, a racing schedule of a little over seven months that runs from spring meadows to the first frosts of late autumn in Shelby County.

Quarter Horses get their own Saturday programs, which start early at 10:45 a.m., and a Veterans Day card on Wednesday, November 11, has a first post of 2:01 p.m. Weekday post times shift during the year, so the daily entries are the safest guide. The national horse racing calendar lists the meet alongside other tracks.

Indiana Derby, Indiana Oaks and the betting menu

The Indiana Derby is a Grade 3 race for three-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles, worth $300,000 and run in July. It began at Hoosier Park in 1995 and moved here in 2013. Winners include Dragoon Guard in 2024, Tip Top Thomas in 2025 and Leading Change in 2026. The Grade 3 Indiana Oaks for fillies shares the program.

New in 2026 is a Last Call Daily Double on each day’s final two Thoroughbred races, with a 15 percent takeout. The first floor of the grandstand works as a year-round simulcast room, and the second floor holds Clubhouse Dining with views over the dirt oval and the turf course. Pools are explained in the pari-mutuel guide.

The Horseshoe Indianapolis casino floor

The gaming floor covers more than 100,000 square feet. In August 2026 the Indiana Gaming Commission counted 1,489 electronic gaming devices and 85 live tables, the largest table count of the two racinos. Slot win that month was about $24.4 million and table win about $4.8 million, with blackjack and baccarat accounting for most of the table units.

Table games include blackjack, roulette, craps, baccarat, Three Card Poker and Mississippi Stud, and some blackjack and poker variants carry progressive side-bet jackpots. Electronic tables offer blackjack, craps and roulette on flat screens. Live dealers arrived in January 2020 under a 2019 state law, and Caesars completed a roughly $32 million expansion of the casino floor in 2021.

Poker, sportsbook and nightlife

Poker players use a World Series of Poker room, which track profiles describe as a 20-table room with cash games and scheduled tournaments. A retail Caesars Sportsbook sits on the casino floor, and Center Bar is one of the drinks stops on the gaming floor itself. The casino and the sportsbook both require guests to be 21 or older.

Live music has featured in the past, with touring bands, tribute acts and DJs, but the casino’s show listings carry no upcoming dates at present. Visitors should check the events page close to a trip; race days in summer, especially the Indiana Derby card in July, are a more dependable reason to visit Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Dining at the track

Jack Binion’s Steak is the formal option, serving dry-aged steaks, seafood and pasta near the high-limit area. Brew Brothers is a pub with beer and casual plates, Sidewalk Café sells burgers, baked goods and donuts as grab-and-go food, and Clubhouse Dining opens only during the racing season, with a view of the track from the second floor.

Getting there, parking and hotels

The address is 4300 North Michigan Road in Shelbyville. From Indianapolis, most drivers take Interstate 74 southeast and leave at the Michigan Road exit. Parking is in surface lots around the casino and grandstand. There is no hotel on the property; Caesars lists partner hotels in and around Shelbyville, and Indianapolis is close enough for a day trip.

Nearby racing options extend in several directions. Anderson’s harness track lies to the north on the far side of Indianapolis, and Ohio’s Belterra Park runs Thoroughbreds near Cincinnati to the southeast. Kentucky’s tracks, such as Ellis Park and Turfway Park, pair their racing with historical horse racing machines rather than with the slot machines used in Indiana.

From Indiana Downs to Horseshoe

Indiana Downs held its first season of racing in 2003. A 2007 law let both tracks install slot machines, and the casino, then called Indiana Live!, opened on March 13, 2009. The owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011, and in 2012 and 2013 the casino and track were rebranded as Indiana Grand.

Centaur Gaming took control in 2013 and sold both Indiana racinos to Caesars in 2018 for about $1.7 billion. The Horseshoe name arrived in January 2022 as part of a company-wide rebranding. Horseshoe Indianapolis treats casino play as paid entertainment; setting a budget before arriving, and stopping when it is spent, keeps a race day affordable.

From the rail

Frequently asked questions

When is the Horseshoe Indianapolis racing schedule for 2026?

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission approved live racing from Tuesday, April 7, through Friday, November 13, 2026. Thoroughbreds race on most cards, Quarter Horse programs are run on Saturdays from 10:45 a.m., and a Veterans Day card on Wednesday, November 11, has a 2:01 p.m. first post. Simulcast betting continues all year after the meet ends.

Is Horseshoe Indianapolis the same place as Indiana Grand?

Yes. The track opened as Indiana Downs, the casino opened as Indiana Live!, and after a 2011 bankruptcy the combined property became Indiana Grand Racing & Casino. Caesars bought it in 2018 and renamed it Horseshoe Indianapolis in January 2022. The address on North Michigan Road in Shelbyville has not changed through any of those renamings.

Is Horseshoe Indianapolis actually in Indianapolis?

No. The racino is in Shelbyville, the seat of Shelby County, roughly 20 to 30 miles southeast of downtown Indianapolis depending on the route. The Indianapolis name is a Caesars branding choice for its Horseshoe properties. Visitors drive in on Interstate 74 and exit onto Michigan Road, which leads directly to the casino entrance and parking.

Does the casino have a poker room?

Yes. The casino runs a World Series of Poker room, described in published track profiles as a 20-table room, and Caesars lists WSOP poker tournaments among its games. The rest of the table pit deals blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, Three Card Poker and Mississippi Stud, plus electronic table games for blackjack, craps and roulette.

What is the minimum age at Horseshoe Indianapolis?

Caesars requires guests to be 21 or older to gamble on the casino floor and at the sportsbook, in line with Indiana casino rules. The racetrack apron and grandstand are open to families during the live meet, but under-21 visitors are kept out of the gaming areas, and identification checks happen at the casino entrances.

When is the Indiana Derby run?

The Indiana Derby has been run in July since 2015. It is a Grade 3 race for three-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles on dirt with a $300,000 purse. Leading Change, trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., won the 2026 edition, the latest name added to a race first run in 1995.

Sources

  1. Horseshoe Indianapolis — official site (Caesars Entertainment) caesars.com
  2. Horseshoe Indianapolis — restaurants caesars.com
  3. Indiana Gaming Commission — August 2026 revenue report in.gov
  4. Indiana Horse Racing Commission — 2026 racing dates and locations secure.in.gov
  5. StallionESearch: Horseshoe Indianapolis 2025 stakes schedule release stallionesearch.com
  6. Wikipedia — Horseshoe Indianapolis en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia — Indiana Derby en.wikipedia.org