Mahoning Valley Race Course schedule for 2026
Racing comes in two blocks each calendar year because the meet straddles the winter. In 2026 the first block ran from January 2 to April 10, and the second opened on Monday, October 19 and runs to December 30. The track describes its season as October through April and posts the current schedule on its racing page.
Live cards run on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays plus select Saturdays. First post is shortly after noon, around 12:45 p.m. on weekdays in recent seasons and a little earlier on Saturdays. Fields average seven to eight horses per race, and there is no advance wagering on the home card, though some simulcast races take advance bets.
Mutuel tellers work from noon to 7 p.m., and self-service machines take bets around the clock. The simulcast schedule covers thoroughbred and harness tracks across the country, shown in the second-floor teletheater. Players with a HollywoodRaces.com account can connect on site, and the pari-mutuel betting guide explains pools and takeout for new bettors.
The track and its signature races
Mahoning Valley Race Course is a one-mile dirt oval, 80 feet wide, banked three percent on the straights and six percent on the turns, with a 1,000-foot stretch run. Thirteen barns stable up to 988 horses, and a 54-stall receiving barn handles ship-ins arriving on race day. Dormitories house 168 backstretch workers.
The $250,000 Steel Valley Sprint, a six-furlong dash for three-year-olds, became the signature race after its introduction in the 2015 to 2016 season. Open stakes for fillies and mares sit beside a group of Ohio-bred stakes, and Best of Ohio Day stages several $100,000 races. Jockeys such as Irad Ortiz Jr. and Javier Castellano have ridden here.
Hollywood Gaming: VLTs, keno and the new patio
The Hollywood Gaming floor offers more than 1,000 video lottery terminals with denominations from 1 cent to $25, plus keno. Featured titles include Dancing Drums, Lightning Link and Wonder 4. As an Ohio racino it has no live table games, so players who want blackjack or poker drive to the casinos in Cleveland or Pittsburgh.
A patio expansion broke ground in 2026. It adds about 3,000 square feet and more than 100 new terminals, lifting the total to around 1,150, with completion expected by the end of the year. It is the second upgrade at Hollywood Gaming this year, following the March opening of Zombie Dogz and Piez, and the floor stays open.
Dining and the sportsbook
Race-day dining happens in the second-floor clubhouse, which looks over the track and takes reservations by phone. On the gaming level, Take 2 Grill and Trackside serve casual food, and Zombie Dogz and Piez adds hot dogs and pies, a concept with a following in Dayton. Comp dollars from the rewards card work at the outlets.
The sportsbook doubles as a bar and screening room for football, basketball and other sports. Like the gaming floor, it is limited to guests aged 21 and older. Rewards run through PENN Play, whose tier points reset each May 1, and PENN Bonus Play earned here can only be redeemed on this property’s terminals.
Visiting Mahoning Valley Race Course
The address is 655 North Canfield Niles Road in Austintown Township, on Ohio Route 46 near Interstate 80 and about ten minutes west of downtown Youngstown. Race-day visitors follow signs to a designated racing parking area. Pittsburgh is a little over an hour east, which makes the track a regular stop for western Pennsylvania racing fans.
There is no hotel at Mahoning Valley Race Course, so overnight guests book one of the hotels along Route 46 and Interstate 80 nearby. Photographing races needs advance permission from security, and access is limited to general viewing areas. Ohio’s problem gambling helpline is 1-800-589-9966, and setting a spending limit before arriving is a simple safeguard.
History of the track
PENN, then Penn National Gaming, moved the license of Beulah Park in Grove City to the Mahoning Valley under Ohio’s 2011 to 2012 racino deal, choosing a market without a casino. Construction began on May 30, 2013, the racino opened on September 17, 2014 with nearly 1,000 terminals, and the first race card followed on November 24, 2014.
Purses rose quickly as terminal revenue flowed into racing. Average daily purses reached $76,000 by the end of the 2015 winter meet and topped $106,000 in the following season, which helped the track compete with Thistledown and Mountaineer for horses. Gaming and Leisure Properties owns the real estate and leases it to PENN.
Nearby racinos
JACK Thistledown near Cleveland runs the summer half of the Northeast Ohio thoroughbred calendar, and Northfield Park races harness horses year round. Across the state line, West Virginia’s Mountaineer and the Pennsylvania racinos are within easy reach of Mahoning Valley Race Course for a two-state racing trip. All seven Ohio tracks are on the Ohio racinos page.