Tioga Downs will kick off its 2020 live racing season on Saturday, May 2, which will ignite a 58-date meet that is scheduled to end with the New York Sire Stakes Excelsior division finals on Saturday, September 19.

In between, the season will be filled with stakes and promotions to enhance the Tioga live experience. Top Grand Circuit stakes for older horses are on the schedule. The Roll With Joe FFA Pace and the Graduate Series for four-year-old trotters and pacers are scheduled for Sunday, June 14, while the Crawford Farms and Joie De Vie for trotters and Artiscape for pacing mares will be contested a month later along with the Empire Breeders Classic for sophomore New York-breds.

The nomination forms for the above stakes are available on the Tioga website and will close on March 15.

Race Secretary Rich Mattei will accept racing applications, due by March 15, and open the stable area on April 1 in anticipation of the summer racing.

Questions should be directed to racing operations manager Brett Risi at 607-699-7688.

It is recommended that horsepeople sign up for the text information service used at Tioga Downs by texting the word ‘MEADOWLANDS’ to 84700.

(Tioga Downs)