from Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway

Dayton, OH — Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway is now less than a month from opening night of its inaugural live harness racing meet and the facility is drawing rave reviews from all that have gotten a glimpse of it.

A group of five Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association representatives met on Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 3) with Penn National’s vice president of Ohio racing Mark Loewe and Dayton Raceway’s race secretary Gregg Keidel to tour the state-of-the-art paddock, impressive five-eighths-mile track and race-friendly grandstand and then discussed conditions and purses for the upcoming 56-night meet which runs from Oct. 3 through Dec. 27.

A consensus best estimate was reached that approximately $60,000 per night would be available for purses the first season, with that number sure to grow considerably in future years. Assuming adequate horse supply, Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway plans to present 12 races per program on a five-nights-per-week schedule for the large majority of the meet.

A pre-meet “dress rehearsal” qualifying session has been scheduled for Monday night (Sept. 29) with a 7 p.m. post time. Entries for those qualifiers will be accepted on Friday (Sept. 26).

Condition sheets for week one were discussed and agreed upon and are now posted on the USTA website for horsemen to review.

Both management at Dayton Raceway and the OHHA representatives agreed that they are anxious to get underway at the brand new facility that seems second to none.