Nichols, NY — Tioga Downs will begin its 14th season of harness racing with a live card on Saturday (May 4), with a special post time of 5 p.m.

The celebration will include a Kentucky Derby hat contest, t-shirt and magnet giveaways. The day will also include a $1,000 Derby Dream Bet promotion. The two Dream Bet winners will receive $500 to wager on any horse in the Kentucky Derby. They will take home any winnings. The Kentucky Derby will be shown live on our large toteboard screen as well as on televisions all around Tioga Downs. A spectacular fireworks display will follow live racing.

Tioga Downs will once again be the home to some of the best harness horses in the country.

On Sunday (June 9) Tioga will feature a $75,000 leg of the Graduate Series for 4-year-old pacers and trotters.

On Sunday (Aug. 11) the five-eighths-mile track in Nichols, N.Y., will feature the Empire Breeders Classic pacing eliminations, with races for both 3-year-old fillies and colts. Also featured on the card will be the $175,000 Joie De Vie Open Mare Trot, as well as the $175,000 Crawford Farms Open Trot. In the 2017 version of the Joie De Vie, Emoticon Hanover set a world record for 4-year-old trotting mares on a five-eighths-mile track with a time of 1:50.2. She owns the overall Tioga Downs track record for trotters as well.

On Sunday (Aug. 18) Tioga Downs will feature the Empire Breeders Classic finals for 3-year-old pacing fillies and colts, each racing for a purse of $250,000 (est.). Also on that day will be the $175,000 Roll With Joe Open Pace and the $175,000 Artiscape Open Mare Pace.

For more information go to www.tiogadowns.com.