Yonkers to race 240 dates, hold top stakes schedule for 2023

Yonkers Raceway is getting ready to bring down the curtain on its 2022 harness racing season, with the closing night of the meet set for tonight, Thursday (December 22).

Some racing highlights of the year have included Funatthebeach N’s upset win in the MGM Borgata Pacing Series final, Drama Act taking the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series final, Joviality S beating the boys in the MGM Yonkers Trot final, and Pleaseletmeknow capturing the MGM Grand Messenger Stakes final. 2022 also saw the return of the $1 million MGM Yonkers International Trot, with the win going to Norway’s Cokstile.

Looking forward to 2023, the 240-date slate of racing is set to begin on Monday, January 16 and will run through Wednesday, December 20. Post time will be 7 p.m. (Eastern) for each card except for one matinee program on Saturday, September 23.

Live racing will take place on a Monday through Friday basis from the start of the 2023 season through the end of April. Starting in May, Wednesday will become a dark day and live racing will move to a Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday schedule until October when the Monday-Friday slate resumes and Saturday switches back to a dark day. Yonkers will not hold any programs from Wednesday, November 22 through Friday, November 24 for Thanksgiving.

The MGM Borgata Pacing Series for free-for-allers will get going on Monday, March 20, with five preliminary legs set to take place. The finals for both the MGM Borgata Pacing Series and the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series for pacing mares will be held on Monday, April 24.

The first legs of the Trotting and Pacing Triple Crowns, the MGM Yonkers Trot and MGM Grand Messenger Stakes, will see their finals occur on Friday, June 30, with the purse for the MGM Yonkers Trot guaranteed at $300,000 and the MGM Grand Messenger offering an estimated purse of $250,000. A major change of note for those looking to enter either race, the total starting fee for the elimination and final is now just $3,000, down from $7,500 ($5,000 elim, $2,500 final). The supplemental fee was also reduced from $30,000 to $25,000.

On Saturday, September 9, New York Night of Champions will return to Yonkers Raceway, as the best horses in the Empire State are crowned in eight sire stakes finals. Yonkers will also host New York Sire Stakes legs throughout 2023, with further details to come once that schedule is finalized.

Last, but certainly not least, the world’s best trotters will come to Yonkers Raceway on that above-mentioned date of Saturday, September 23, for the $1 million MGM Yonkers International Trot. That program has a scheduled post time of 12 noon (eastern).

Yonkers Raceway would like to thank all of the horses, horsepeople, staff, management, and bettors for your continued support in making the year a success. We hope everybody has a happy holiday season, a happy and prosperous New Year, and we look forward to seeing you again in 2023.

From Yonkers Raceway