Anderson, IN – Final preparations for the 2022 season are well underway at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino with opening day of the 160-day meet set for Friday, March 25. With a daily post time of 6:30 p.m., the live racing season will be conducted through December 10.

Live racing at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino will follow a Friday, Saturday schedule the opening week, a Thursday, Friday, Saturday schedule the second week and then commence a Wednesday through Saturday schedule before adding Tuesdays beginning on June 7.

Dean Gillette photo.

The barn area will officially open for the season on Saturday, March 5 for those horsemen allotted stalls for the season to begin moving in horses and equipment. The track will be open for training from the hours of 6 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will remain open during these hours throughout the duration of the season.

The track will be closed on Sundays and all days of training will be subject to weather permitting. The Paddock and ship-in area will also be open for those horsemen wishing to ship in and train. All horses entering the grounds must have all valid paperwork required before being allowed entry to the grounds.

The first round of qualifiers is slated for Wednesday, March 9 with an estimated start time of 10 a.m. Qualifiers will continue to follow a Wednesday and Saturday schedule throughout the entirety of the season. The entry box closes for qualifiers one day prior at 10 a.m. until March 25 and then the box will close at 1 p.m. going forward. The annual night-time dress rehearsal qualifying program is still slated for Wednesday, March 23 and will begin at 5:00 p.m. The evening round of qualifiers will allow horsemen, racing officials, and racing fans to watch qualifiers under the lights prior to the opening night program.

Condition sheets and stakes schedules will be posted on Hoosier Park’s website as soon as they are made available. Hoosier Park recently announced several overnight and late closing events to be contested in early April and May along with a variety of mini-series for Indiana-sired horses. All of the overnight series will be on Hoosier Park’s condition sheets and more information can be found on Hoosier Park’s website by clicking here.

In addition, the opening night programs will feature the return of Harrah’s Hoosier Park’s Claiming Challenge, a championship style series of races created for claiming horses. Harrah’s Hoosier Park’s Claiming Challenge will be a slate of races offering purses in excess of $200,000 total. The claiming levels will range from $5,000 to $30,000 and will feature an elimination and final for each division. The Claiming Challenge is open to all claiming horses, regardless of where they were foaled or raced, and all entry fees will be added to the purse of the final. A full list of the conditions and more details on the Claiming Challenge can be found on Harrah’s Hoosier Park website or by clicking here.

The 2022 live racing season at Harrah’s Hoosier Park will feature 160 days of live racing and will be headlined the $300,000 Dan Patch Stakes on Friday, August 12.