Belterra Park racing schedule
Belterra Park races thoroughbreds through the warm months. The 2026 meet opened on May 1 and closed on October 12, and the operator lists the next season as spring 2027. The track promotes a stakes calendar spread over more than 90 days a year, and cards mix claiming, maiden and allowance races with Ohio-bred stakes on selected dates.
Exact days change from year to year. In 2017, for example, the track raced Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and most Thursdays, plus Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day, with occasional quarter horse cards. Check the 2027 racing schedule on the official site before planning a trip, since the condition book and post times appear there first.
When there is no live card, the River Downs Club simulcasts thoroughbred and harness racing from across North America, with more than 40 big-screen televisions and a nod to the track’s history in its name. The site’s horse racing schedule shows live tracks by week, and the pari-mutuel betting guide explains how win pools and exotics pay.
The track: dirt, turf and a rebuilt grandstand
The rebuild moved the course slightly east, closer to the barns. The main track is a one-mile dirt oval with chutes at six and a half furlongs and a mile and a quarter, and inside it runs a seven-furlong turf course. The turf course dates from 1956, when River Downs became the thirteenth American track with a grass strip.
The old grandstand held 9,350 people. Its replacement has 1,200 permanent stadium seats, with space for about 1,000 more on bleachers for bigger race days, and the stable area holds up to 1,350 horses. The two-year-old Cradle and Bassinet stakes, once the richest juvenile races in Ohio, have not been run since 2010.
The Belterra Park casino floor
The casino side of Belterra Park is a video lottery terminal floor open 24 hours, with more than 1,100 games from penny reels to progressive jackpots. A gaming terrace gives players an outdoor option with a view of the track. Ohio’s racino rules keep out table games, so blackjack and poker players drive to Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati downtown.
Play is tracked through Boyd Rewards, the company’s national loyalty program, which also works at Belterra Casino Resort across the river in Indiana and at Boyd properties in Las Vegas. Winning Ohio Lottery tickets can be cashed on site. Valet parking runs Wednesday to Sunday, and drinks can be ordered and paid for from a phone.
Sportsbook, bars and dining
Belterra Park Sportsbook covers spreads, singles and parlays on the major US leagues plus golf, boxing, motorsports and college games. It sits alongside the Stadium Sports Bar and Grill, which has more than 50 HDTVs and serves bar food through games and race days. The two spaces make the racino a common sports-watching spot on the east side.
Burger Brothers is the casual restaurant, built around burgers, and B Bar serves beer and craft cocktails, with seasonal drink specials. Club 38 is a members-only lounge for the higher Boyd Rewards tiers, Emerald, Onyx and Titanium. There is no fine-dining room or buffet, so visitors wanting a bigger meal often head into nearby Cincinnati neighborhoods.
Getting there
The racino sits at 6301 Kellogg Avenue, near the Interstate 275 interchange on the city’s southeast edge. Neighbors include the Coney Island amusement park and the Riverbend Music Center, so summer concert nights bring extra traffic on Kellogg Avenue. Belterra Park has no hotel of its own, and most visitors stay in Cincinnati or the eastern suburbs.
History: from Coney Island Race Track to River Downs to Belterra Park
The track opened in 1925 as the Coney Island Race Track and reopened as River Downs after the 1937 Ohio River flood. Seabiscuit raced there twice in 1936, Steve Cauthen won his first race there in 1976, and 1984 Cradle winner Spend A Buck went on to win the 1985 Kentucky Derby. Floods returned in 1997.
Pinnacle Entertainment bought River Downs in 2011, sent the 2013 meet to Beulah Park, rebuilt the plant and renamed it Belterra Park that October. The racino opened on 1 May 2014. Boyd Gaming bought the business in 2018, and in 2020 Gaming and Leisure Properties took ownership of the real estate and leased it back to Boyd.
Nearby racinos
Southwest Ohio has two more racinos within an hour. Miami Valley Gaming near Lebanon runs harness racing in winter and spring, and Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway races harness horses in the autumn. JACK Thistledown is the other Ohio thoroughbred summer track, and all seven appear on the Ohio racinos page.