Following forced cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, MGM Yonkers Raceway is back this year with a full slate of stakes races for pacers and trotters of all ages.

Nominations for three of the stakes for 2021 close on Feb. 16 and interested parties are encouraged to submit payments promptly to ensure a chance to race for more than $2 million in purse money.

The Borgata Pacing Series (formerly George Morton Levy Memorial) highlights the best older pacers in the sport. In 2019, Western Fame captured the $663,260 Borgata final. The series commences on March 15 this year with the first of five preliminary legs. Each round of the Borgata will now take place on Monday, the featured night of the week at Yonkers Raceway, replacing Saturday. A $5,000 nomination fee must arrive by Feb. 16 for horses to be eligible.

The mare companion race for the Borgata is the Blue Chip Matchmaker. Using it as a springboard to her Horse of the Year campaign, Shartin N took the $402,060 final of the Matchmaker in 2019. Interested pacing mares must submit a $4,000 nomination fee to be eligible for the opening leg on Friday, March 12.

The Borgata and Blue Chip Matchmaker finals are scheduled for Monday, April 19.

Nomination blanks for both races can be found on the Yonkers Raceway website.

Stakes season officially kicks off on March 2 at Yonkers Raceway with the M Life Rewards series for three- & four-year-olds of both sexes who are Non-winners of four races and/or $50,000 lifetime through Dec. 1, 2020. Those paying the $200 nomination fee by Feb. 16 will be eligible to either the male or female finals guaranteed to offer a purse of at least $50,000.

Yonkers would also like to remind owners and trainers of top trotting and pacing three-year-olds that the Hambletonian Society is accepting sustaining and supplemental payments for the $300K (gtd.) MGM Yonkers Trot, $300K (gtd.) MGM Grand Messenger, $125K (est.) New York New York Mile and $125K (est.) Park MGM Pace. Eliminations for all four races are slated for June 25. The finals take place on July 2. Click here for more information.

Yonkers Raceway will offer more than $3 million in stakes purse money and is scheduled to offer more live racing dates than any other Standardbred track in North America in 2021.

Live racing at Yonkers continues on a Monday to Friday schedule with a first-race post-time of 7:15 p.m. (EST).

(Yonkers Raceway)