Mahoning Valley

Ron Walker has been named The Jockey Club steward for Finger Lakes Racetrack and will take the place of Samantha Randazzo, who was appointed as The Jockey Club steward for The New York Racing Association tracks. Walker has been involved with horse racing since 1981 and has been an owner, breeder, trainer, and racing official. Prior to becoming steward at Finger Lakes, he was the state steward for the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission, spent nine years as the presiding steward for the New Mexico Racing Commission and also worked as...

Trainer Jay Bernardini captured the leading trainer title at the recently concluded spring meet at Mahoning Valley, saddling 25 winners from 126 starters over the season, which kicked off on Jan 2 and concluded Sunday. The veteran conditioner, who defeated Nestor Rivera and Bob Gorham by one win on the final day of racing, picked up his seventh overall career training title having previously earned top honors at the shuttered Suffolk Downs and Mountaineer Park. Luis Batista was the leading jockey at the meet after booting home 60 winners, and...

 Since breaking his maiden at second asking in a 9 3/4 length gate-to-wire romp at Thistledown July 12, Grand Isle stayed in state-bred company and jumped up to the stakes ranks with a pair of back-to-back second-place efforts in the Hoover S. and the Best of Ohio Cleveland Kindergarten S. Aug. 13. Making his first start since then, and his first start at Mahoning Valley, Saturday's 6-1 shot rated kindly off the early pace from fifth before gradually making up ground up the backstretch run. As room opened along the...

Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course will host its third annual fundraising event for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund Saturday, Oct. 29. This year's event will hold a new name, Jockey Jam, and see the addition of a karaoke dinner fundraising event, Jockey Jamboree, to be held Friday, Oct. 28. "The mission statement behind the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund is one of importance to us and the racing community here at Mahoning Valley Race Course," said Rob Swedinovich, Vice President and General Manager. In the events two previous additions,...

The annual Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Mixed Thoroughbred Sale is to be held at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Delaware, Ohio, Wednesday Oct. 19 and it has drawn enthusiastic participation. The sale will start at 2:30 p.m. The grounds are open for previews/inspections at noon Oct. 18. There are a record-setting 120 entries with a variety of prospects among the 23 weanlings and 74 yearlings as well as 2-year-olds and broodmares. The 2022 edition of the sale includes a 36-entry dispersal from Mapleton Thoroughbred Farm, which has been atop...

At first glance, it looks like a movie you've probably seen already. A horse-crazy girl leads her family into racing and, against all odds, they end up in the winner's circle after a big race. Only, for Gaylene Smith and her family, it's no movie. It's real life after Smith's 8-year-old granddaughter London asked for a racehorse early last year. Less than a year into operation, Smith's Willow's Green Stable won its first stakes race with Timeless Bounty (Elusive Hour), a $15,000 claim who took the family to Santa Anita...

Live racing for Saturday, Feb. 12 at Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Valley Race Course has been cancelled due to the lingering effects of winter storm Landon. Live racing is scheduled to resume Monday, Feb. 14 with a first race post time of 12:45pm. The simulcast theater will remain open.

Live racing at Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Valley Race Course for Friday, Feb.11 has been cancelled due to the lingering effects of winter storm Landon. Live racing is scheduled to resume Saturday, Feb. 12 with a first race post time of 12:15pm. The simulcast theater will remain open. Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Valley Race Course races Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday with a first race post time of 12:45 p.m. and Saturday with a first race post time of 12:15 p.m. The 2022 Winter/Spring race meet dates run Jan. 1 - Apr. 16,...

Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Valley Race Course was forced to move its scheduled Tuesday, Jan. 18 race card to Friday, Jan. 21 due to the lingering effects of Winter Storm Izzy, which dumped some eight-plus inches of snow in the Youngstown, OH area. It was also forced to cancel Monday's card due to the storm. First post for Friday's card will be 12:45 p.m., and live racing is scheduled to resume at Mahoning Valley at the same time Wednesday.

Mahoning Valley Race Course raised purses 10%, effective Dec. 21. This is the second increase of the year. "We have had a good year here at Mahoning Valley, setting several handle records along the way," comments Elizabeth Rogers, Assistant Director of Racing, "the timing of this increase will help us set the stage for an even better 2022."

The 2020-21 racing season at Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Valley Race Course came to a record-setting close last Saturday. The 2020-2021 season concluded with an average handle per race of $121,770, a 4.43% increase in average handle per race over the 2019-2020 racing season. During the 2021 Winter/Spring meet portion of the racing season, average handle per race came in at $131,411 with the wagering highlight coming Mar. 29. In a mandatory payout of the Buckeye Jackpot Pick 6, which had grown to $343,876, the single day handle record was shattered...

IRON MEN OF METZ (Added Edge) won on this side of the Atlantic at Mahoning Valley, and ARNOUL OF METZ (Kyllachy {GB}) won at "caput mundi" Wolverhampton in England. The "Iron Men of Metz" is the nickname given to the 95th Infantry Division of the US Army, who battled the Germans in WW2 to liberate and defend the French town in November 1944, through heavy and costly fighting, sometimes in house-to-house fashion--while Arnoul (582-645) was the mythical bishop of Metz in the dark middle ages of Merovingian times--and also an...