Mahoning Valley Adds Two New Stakes

A pair of new stakes have been added to the upcoming Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course meet that begins Oct. 30 and will become part of the 22-race, $5.35 million Penn Gaming Racing Challenge.



Both six-furlong stakes—the $200,000 Steel Valley Sprint for 3-year-olds and the $75,000 Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Distaff—will be run on Nov. 23, at the Youngstown, Ohio, track.



Mahoning Valley's vice president of racing operations Mark Loewe said in a release that the Steel Valley Sprint, the richest to date at the track that will conduct its second meet this year, has the potential to attract a broad range of horses.



"Whether it's a later developing sprinter or even a horse coming back three weeks after Breeders' Cup World Championships weekend, it gives a horse one last chance to run against their own age group in a six-figure race," Loewe said.



The races will be run on Monday, which Loewe said allows Mahoning Valley to take advantage of a leaner simulcast market.



"Both Zia Park and Penn National have had success running on Wednesday of Thanksgiving week and we wanted to follow suit and run our races when we aren't competing for attention on the national simulcast calendar," he said. "The available pie might be smaller, but it's a lot easier to get a bigger chunk of it on a Monday."



The Penn Gaming Racing Challenge will conclude over Thanksgiving week with the final three events in the series. Following the races at Mahoning Valley, Zia Park's Land of Enchantment Day—headlined by the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks—and Penn National Race Course's Thanksgiving Eve Racing Festival, featuring the $200,000 Fabulous Strike at six furlongs, will close out the series Nov. 25.