Hollywood Gaming Dayton Raceway opened the gates to its brand new five-eighths-mile oval on Monday morning (September 22) and two dozen local horses and their trainers were invited to get their first glimpse of the racing surface.

Trainer Sam Coven and his pacer Noble Commander were the first to step foot on the track at 9:05 a.m. and by 12 noon all 24 horses had either jogged or trained, including a couple reported training miles under 2:00. Both the racing surface and the adjacent paddock received unanimous praise from everyone involved in the special morning session.

Next Monday (September 29) Hollywood Dayton Raceway will conduct a ‘dress rehearsal’ night of qualifying races with post time scheduled for 7 p.m. Entries for the qualifying races are due by 2 p.m. this Friday afternoon (September 26) by either calling the race office (937-235-7860 between 12 noon and 2 p.m.) or by entering through the USTA’s new Online Entry platform.

Opening night of the 56-program meet is Friday (October 3) with the track’s regular 6:35 p.m. first-race post time. Racing will be conducted four nights a week during the first two weeks (Friday, Saturday, Wednesday and Thursday). Mondays will be added in the third week.

Trainers will be required to fill out Ship-In Applications and Waiver of Liability forms prior to opening night. They will be available at the track’s website (hollywooddaytonraceway.com) within the next few days.

(With files from Hollywood Gaming Dayton Raceway)