On Friday (May 8) MGM Northfield Park announced the cancellation of two of its most popular stakes events.

Both the $200,000 Battle of Lake Erie, slated for June 6, and the $175,000 Cleveland Trotting Classic, schedule for July 3, have been cancelled for this year. Both “by-invitation-only” events are among the highlights of Northfield’s year-round racing calendar, and annually feature the best veteran pacers and trotters in North America.

“The health and safety of our guests and team members is essential to MGM Resorts. Coupled with the uncertainty of racing dates and possible travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, cancelling the upcoming 2020 Battle of Lake Erie and Cleveland Trotting Classic is the responsible thing to do,” said Dave Bianconi, Director of Racing Operations at Northfield Park. “The stakes calendar is going to be jam-packed through the late summer and fall when tracks get back to racing, so trying to reschedule them later in the year doesn’t make sense. We look forward to their return in 2021.”

MGM Northfield Park’s premier race, the Carl Milstein Memorial for three-year-old pacers, is currently scheduled to be contested on Saturday, August 15.

(Northfield)