by Ayers Ratliff, for Northfield Park

Northfield, OH — Northfield Park, Ohio’s leading racetrack in pari-mutuel handle, both on-track and export, is offering live harness racing four nights a week to start the 2016 racing year.

January through September racing is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. The exceptions to this schedule are the addition of Friday (Jan. 1), and three Sundays (May 29, July 3 and Sept. 4). There is no live racing on Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day Mondays.

Beginning Oct. 7 Northfield adds Friday evenings and will race five nights a week until the end of the ear. Thursday (Dec. 22) will replace Christmas Eve Saturday, while Thursday (Dec. 29) will replace racing on New Year’s Eve Saturday.

Northfield Park’s marquee racing events are as follows: $200,000 Battle of Lake Erie (Saturday, May 21); $175,000 Cleveland Trotting Classic (Saturday, July 2); $400,000 Carl Milstein Memorial and $50,000 Myron Charna President’s Pace (Saturday, Aug. 13); and $125,000 Courageous Lady (Saturday, Nov. 26).

Ohio Super Night, with eight $250,000 Ohio Sires Stakes championships on tap, will be contested over the Flying Turns on Saturday (Sept. 3). With total purses approaching $2.1 million on the evening, it will be the richest card of horse racing ever conducted in Northeastern Ohio.

The always popular $125,000 (est.) Summit County Fair Stakes, featuring many of Ohio’s best freshman and sophomore trotters and pacers, will be held on Saturday (July 30).

Each of the 222 live racing nights, up from 215 this year, carries a first race post time of 6 p.m.

Northfield Park is open daily from mid-morning until after midnight for simulcasting action from tracks across the United States, Canada and Australia.