Mahoning Valley

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...

He grew up on the racetrack, mainly at the old Latonia, spending many a morning and afternoon there with his father Daryl, who worked as a jockey agent, an exercise rider and a racing official. And everywhere he went, Deshawn Parker saw people just like him. Young, Black and eager to make a name for themselves in the sport. It was the '70s and the '80s and at whatever track you went to, the majority of backstretch workers were African Americans. Today, they make up a small fraction of a...

The Ohio State Racing Commission (OSRC) issued a new directive on Friday that extends an existing shutdown mandating that Thoroughbred and Standardbred tracks remain closed for live racing while stipulating that backstretch facilities at venues where meets were already in progress have to stay "open and operational until further notice." Right now, Mahoning Valley Race Course is the only Thoroughbred track in the state with an operational backstretch. There are about 800 horses and 95 caretakers living in the stable area. The track was supposed to race through Apr. 18,...

The Ohio State Racing Commission (OSRC) issued a directive effective Mar. 31 mandating that Thoroughbred and Standardbred tracks remain closed for live racing through Apr. 30 while stipulating that backstretch facilities at venues where meets were already in progress have to stay "open and operational until further notice." At this time of year, Mahoning Valley Race Course is the only Thoroughbred track open in Ohio. Live racing was last held there Mar. 18. The OSRC's directive was issued on the heels of horsemen at Mahoning Valley receiving notice from track...

Puerto Rican native Luis M. Quinones, America's second leading rider by races won in 2019, has been selected the winner of the 2020 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. Given annually by Santa Anita since 1950, the award will be presented to Quinones in a winner's circle ceremony Mar. 22. Quinones, who competes along the midwest and southern racing circuit--including Ohio's Mahoning Valley Racecourse and Thistledown and Mountaineer Park in West Virginia--outpolled five finalists: veteran riders Tyler Baze, Javier Castellano, Chris Emigh and James Graham. "It's a great honor just to...