from the Meadowlands Media Relations Department

East Rutherford, NJ — The Meadowlands has applied to the New Jersey Racing Commission requesting 91 racing dates for the 2017 live racing season.

Those dates include racing seven Thursday cards from Jan. 26 through March 9. The Meadowlands will also race three Thursday cards from Dec. 15 through Dec. 29 in 2016. Hopefully there will be enough horses available to fill three days of racing. This decision was made in response to a request by the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey requesting more live dates during that time period.

Another important decision made in view of the robust market for yearlings at the recently concluded Lexington Selected Sale is to maintain as many of the Grand Circuit stakes at as close to current purse levels as possible, despite the burden of a purse account that is currently overpaid by $5 million.

For the record, the total amount in purses for all stakes at The Meadowlands in 2016 will be $17.7 million with nearly $6 million of that coming from the stakes percentage of the purse account.

The reality of sustaining a stakes program anywhere close to what we are accustomed to at The Meadowlands will require industry support via sponsorship of these races. We hope to be able to find sponsors for all of our stakes and Jason Hall will be reaching out to the major owners, breeders, vendors and other participants to hopefully raise enough in sponsorships to keep the majority of stakes programs in place.