The groundhogs have emerged from their shelters and either predicted an early spring or six more weeks of winter. Regardless of how cold it will be outside, stakes payments will be due February 15 and now is the time that owners and trainers are mapping out a road to success for their horses. Some horses will focus on Sire Stakes and softer Grand Circuit races as they look to build a foundation before perhaps taking on the best in their division. Others will dive right into the deep waters with races like the North America Cup and Hambletonian. We’ll be able to watch them all in what is a slightly different calendar than recent years. Below I’ll take you through the year while touching on many of the most important dates with multiple big-money stakes while also mentioning changes from previous years. There are obviously too many stakes to single out each one, so my apologies to the tracks that don’t make the cut. I’ll be using a general parameter of having at least two $100,000 stakes on the card to be included and will list any guaranteed purses. It is rare these days that we get any significant shifts in the placement of stakes but Yonkers Raceway threw us a curveball this year by pushing the MGM Borgata and Blue Chip Matchmaker series back a few weeks on the calendar. A series which typically got underway with the first of five preliminary legs in mid-March now begins on the last week of the month and the final will now occur two weeks after the last leg on May 9 this year. Let’s give credit to the track for making this decision since it likely increases participation on multiple fronts. First, it gives older horses an extra couple of weeks to return from winter vacation and perhaps more importantly provides a week for them to recover after the last preliminary leg so they’ll be at their best for the final. “I moved the series because of the Grand Prix,” said Racing Secretary Joe Frasure, pointing to a new series for older pacers and trotters he added to the schedule for late 2024. “The people in the Grand Prix races might’ve wanted an extra week or two break so they can turn their horses out and bring them back. The Grand Prix races are going to be a regular thing for us and I didn’t want the trainers to have to rush to bring the horses back so early. “I tried to be methodical with everything I did and thought about it from different angles. Last year a couple of people said their horses wouldn’t be ready for the series, so having the Grand Prix gave me an excuse to move the dates. I’m hoping with the change we’ll fish a few more entries.” Another important change specific to the Matchmaker, which starts on March 28, is a nice bump in the purses of each leg and the final. Preliminary legs are bumped up from $40,000 to $50,000 and the final gets $200,000 in added money, up from $125,000 in previous years. The consolation guarantee also gets an increase from $75,000 to $100,000 in 2025. “I wanted to raise the purses because they’ve treated the fillies and mares like second-class citizens and I don’t believe in that. To me the mares are just important to our business as the boys are,” said Frasure, who is hoping the changes in purse as well as schedule will increase participation in both events. It isn’t a Grand Circuit stake but Yonkers also did a similar thing with the John Brennan Trotting Series, raising the preliminary leg purses from $25,000 to $30,000 and increasing the guaranteed money for the final by $45,000 to $100,000. The series runs from April 2 to April 23. Getting back to the marque racing dates, Harrah’s Philadelphia will host its trio of $100K stakes on May 25 and the Elitlopp is the following day in Sweden, but we’ll shift to the second week in June for a huge weekend of upper-level harness racing action. On Friday the 13th, The Meadowlands has the New Jersey Sire Stakes finals for 3-year-old trotters where we’ll certainly get a good look at horses we’ll see in the Hambletonian seven weeks later. Sister track Vernon Downs will host the Empire Breeders Classic for the same divisions. Those are simply the appetizer for the Saturday card at Woodbine Mohawk Park which features the C$1,000,000 North America Cup for the best 3-year-old male pacers along with four other stakes worth approximately another million in Canadian dollars. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Two weekends later sees a pair of Triple Crown events at Yonkers Raceway when they hold the finals for the $300,000 MGM Yonkers Trot and MGM Grand Messenger on June 27. Eyes will then shift across the Hudson River to The Meadowlands one day later for a quartet of stakes for older horses. July kicks off with fireworks on the third day of the month with the Zweig trot for 3-year-olds of both sexes at Vernon Downs and the action continues at The Meadowlands two days later with the Graduate finals for 4-year-olds and Meadowlands Pace elimination. Ohio state-breds also get a chance to shine on July 5 when Scioto Downs hosts four six-figure Next Generation races for 2-year-olds. July 12 is one of the best nights of racing on the calendar as The Meadowlands offers more than a half-dozen stakes headlined by the Meadowlands Pace. Total purse money will exceed $2 million. July wraps up with the $250,000 Spirit of Massachusetts and $100,000 Clara Barton on the 20th of the month at Plainridge Park and the Adios Pace at The Meadows on the 26th. The “Greatest Day in Harness Racing” takes place on August 2 this year at The Meadowlands when the 100th Hambletonian for 3-year-old trotters will take place. The $1,000,000 race will be complimented by nine other stakes on a special noon card. August is a busy month in general with a major stakes card scheduled every Saturday: Northfield Park has the $300,000 Carl Milstein Memorial for 3-year-old pacers and a pair of Ohio-sired races worth $100,000 on August 9; The Downs at Pocono presents Sun Stakes Saturday on the 16th with over $2 million in purse money; Woodbine Mohawk Park gets its stakes groove on the following two weekends with the Wellwood and Peaceful Way for 2-year-old trotters heading a huge card on the 23rd and the Maple Leaf Trot and Canadian Pacing Derby for older performers anchoring another big night on the 30th. With Sire Stakes finals in multiple states occurring, September is by far the most congested month of the year in terms of rich stakes events. Just check out September 5th and 6th alone: September 5 Harrah’s Philadelphia: Four $300K PA Sire Stakes Finals for 2YOs The Meadowlands: Eight NJ Classic Finals for 2&3YOs Woodbine Mohawk Park: Champlain & Simcoe for 2&3YO filly pacers September 6 Batavia Downs: Eight $300K NY Sire Stakes Finals for 2&3YOs The Meadows: Four $300K PA Sire Stakes Finals for 3YOs Woodbine Mohawk Park: Champlain & Simcoe for 2&3YO filly trotters Scioto Downs: Three $200K+ stakes for 3YO pacers and older pacers and trotters There are three noteworthy details from the above dates. First, the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes finals get a bump in 2025 from $252,000 to $300,000. Second, the New York Sire Stakes get an even bigger boost from $225,000 to $300,000 each. Finally, and certainly most interesting from my viewpoint is the return of the Jug Preview to the Scioto Downs stakes calendar. The Jug Preview for 3-year-old colt pacers was a mainstay on the Scioto schedule into the 2000s before a decade absence that ended in 2017 when Downbytheseaside took the event. In 2018 only four horses entered the race and it was discontinued. According to Director of Racing Jason Roth, the Jug Preview returns this year because Caesars Senior Vice President of Racing Joe Morris happened to find an old Scioto Downs program from 1997 with the Jug Preview on the cover when he attended a Brittany Farms event at the Stable of Memories on the grounds of The Red Mile last fall. “Joe stopped by one day after a commission meeting, dropped it in my office and asked me why we don’t have the [Jug Preview] anymore. I told him we could add it and we discussed why it went and the lack of interest,” said Roth, who made a few changes to the format to make it more attractive to the top horses. ”The race always went in two divisions and that lowered the purse for each race, which may not appeal to some of the top horses. We are going to go one division this year of the top 2025 money-earners.” With just a $500 nomination fee due May 15 for a purse that will likely be over $200,000, the 2025 Jug Preview is very attractive. There is a $2,000 entry fee but Scioto pays down to 10th place and the horse who finishes last would get their entry fee back. Plus, Scioto is offering two additional bonuses to entice more entrants. First, Scioto will pay the entry fee for all Ohio-breds that pay the nomination fee. Secondly, and more appealing to the Grand Circuit horses, Scioto will pay the $7,000 starting fee into the Little Brown Jug for the winner of the Jug Preview. For that to happen the winner would need to be eligible to the Little Brown Jug but Roth is trying to find a workaround for the future. “Obviously it takes a few years for a change to happen, but I asked [The Little Brown Jug Society] if we can make the Jug Preview a race where if you aren’t eligible to the Jug it will make you eligible. We’ll see what happens in the next few years on that,” said Roth. Almost every day on the calendar from September 12 to 20 has a group of major stakes: September 12: Harrah’s Hoosier (Peter Haughton, Jim Doherty, etc.) September 13: Yonkers ($1,000,000 MGM International Trot, two $200K Invites for older horses – note the purse decreased by $50K each) September 14: The Red Mile (Eight $400K KY Sire Stakes finals for 2&3YOs) September 17-18: Delaware County Fair (Little Brown Jug, Jugette, Miss Versatility final, etc.) September 19: Harrah’s Hoosier (Kentuckiana, Caesars Trotting Classic, HP Pacing Derby, etc.) September 20: Woodbine Mohawk Park (C$1,000,000 Metro & Mohawk Million, etc.) September ends with a gigantic night for Ohio racing as well as the Grand Circuit with Dayton Raceway hosting eight $300,000 Ohio Sire Stakes finals and four $250,000 Dayton Derbies for older pacers and trotters of both sexes. Stakes performers will invade The Red Mile on October 5 for a monster card that includes the Kentucky Futurity and its filly companion race for 3-year-old trotters, as well as the Tattersalls and Glen Garnsey for 3-year-old male and female pacers respectively, and four Allerage races for older foes. Regional horses are in the spotlight the following weekend as Harrah’s Hoosier will crown eight champions in $250,000 Finals for Indiana-bred 2- and 3-year-olds and Woodbine Mohawk Park does the same for the 2-year-old Ontario-breds in C$300,000 Finals on October 10. The Ontario 3-year-olds get their due on the next night at Mohawk Park while Vernon Downs has four $250,000 Big Apple Finals for 2-year-olds, a new race to the schedule for 2025. The most important nights in harness racing for 2025 are October 24 and 25 when Woodbine Mohawk Park serves as host site for the Breeders Crown Finals. There will be four championship races on Friday and eight on Saturday with total purses over $7 million. October stakes racing ends on Halloween with a number of six-figure stakes at Harrah’s Hoosier and November brings the $125,000 Kindergarten finals on November 1 at The Meadowlands, Matron races at Dover Downs on the 6th and 13th, and then the last major stakes date of the year on November 15 at The Meadowlands. The New Jersey track has four FanDuel Finals for older horses and the Fall Final Four races for 2-year-olds. Closing out the calendar year is the Progress Pace for 3-year-olds on November 26 at Dover and a pair of $250,000 MGM Grand Prix Finals on December 19, closing night at Yonkers Raceway. That’s a wrap on what you have to look forward to in 2025. Now if only it was May already so we could get started.