Running Aces Casino, Hotel & Racetrack has announced its race dates for the 2024 meet, the 17th in track history, which have been approved by the Minnesota Racing Commission.
The excitement of live racing will get underway on Sunday, May 19 and conclude on Saturday, Sept. 21, with a total of 55 nights of racing.
The racing schedule will be similar to the last couple of seasons, featuring live action three nights per week on a Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday basis, with a few exceptions. There will be a special Wednesday night card scheduled for July 3 while the track will be dark the following evening on Independence Day (July 4) and there will be special Friday and Saturday, Sept. 20 and 21 cards to conclude the meet with Minnesota Night of Champions festivities.
In a change from recent years, post times for the race cards on Sunday and Thursday (and special race cards on July 3, Sept. 20 and 21) will be at 6 p.m. (CDT) while on Tuesday evenings post time will remain at 7 p.m. (CDT).
The 2023 meet featured the first sub-1:50 miles ever contested at Running Aces. A new all-aged pacing track record was established by American Dreamer with his 1:49.2 mile on July 16. It was later equalled by stablemate Crooked Smile on Aug. 1.
Total purses for the 2024 meet once again are projected to surpass $6 million, as they have during the previous two seasons.
Highlighting the action over the Minnesota five-eighths-mile oval will again be the $50,000 Dan Patch (Free-For-All pacers), $35,000 Ron Banks Memorial (Free-For-All filly and mare pacers) and $35,000 Steve Wiseman Memorial (Free-For-All trotters). Of course, as always, all eyes are pointed to the final night of the meet on Saturday, Sept. 21 for the Minnesota Night of Champions. In 2023, a record single-card total of $780,000 was distributed on closing night to the best and brightest in the Minnesota-sired program.
Running Aces plans to begin accepting stalls applications in mid-January of the New Year for the 2024 racing season. The stable area is scheduled to open on Sunday, May 5 with the first pre-season qualifying session scheduled for Thursday, May 9 over the Minnesota five-eighths mile oval.
Questions regarding stall applications, race conditions or any other racing related inquiries should be directed to Racing Director Steve Carpenito at 651-925-4532 or by email at [email protected].
(Running Aces)