Schenectady, NY –  The Agriculture & New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund Thursday (June 18) released the revised schedule for the New York Sire Stakes County Fair Series. The NYSS worked closely with participating fairs to confirm racing can move forward, especially at those locations that have already canceled their county fair. Dates have also been adjusted on the schedule to minimize event overlaps and we thank each of our partnering fairs for their cooperation. We also thank our participants for their patience as we worked to finalize the 2020 schedule.

The County Fair Finals will be held at Goshen Historic Track on Sunday, Sept. 6, and will be raced for purses of $10,000 per division. As Goshen is not a pari-mutuel track, horsepersons should be aware that they do not need a charted satisfactory performance line this year in order to enter the Final. They must still have enough points and starts. This should reduce qualifying burdens on horsemen.

A racing protocol will be released shortly for the fair events and participants will be required to adhere to those at each stop on the circuit. Participants can expect protocols to be similar to those in place at pari-mutuel tracks. Unique to the fairs, we will request that horsemen race out of their trailers as much as practical to reduce the sanitizing burden on county fair personnel.

“This is a very difficult time for fair associations, and many are disappointed to cancel the fairs they have worked all year to plan,” said M. Kelly Young, executive director, Agriculture & NYS Horse Breeding Development Fund. “In spite of this, we have been overwhelmed by the support of fairs throughout the state that remain committed to offering a racing program during these unusual times. This cooperation allows the Fund to advance our mission of supporting agricultural fairs and allows the fairs to continue their deep-seated traditions of harness racing. We are looking forward to the start of the season on July 9 and a unique finale at Goshen over Labor Day weekend.”

About the Agriculture & NYS Horse Breeding Development Fund: 
The Agriculture & NYS Horse Breeding Development Fund is a public benefit corporation established in 1965 by the Laverne Law (Laws of New York, Chapter 567 of the Laws of 1965). The mission of the fund is to promote agriculture through the breeding of Standardbred horses and the conduct of equine research within the state. To carry out its legislative mission, the Fund administers the New York Sire Stakes races, Excelsior/State Fair Series races, and County Fair Races.