Harrah’s Hoosier Park set to kick off 2025 season
At 10h20, on March 13, 2025 • By Jacob Rheinheimer, Harrah's Hoosier Park
Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino will kick off its 32nd season of live harness racing on Friday (March 14) with a 14-race card. A total of 104 horses have been entered for the season opener, which gets underway at 6:15 p.m.
The card will kick off with a $16,000 conditioned pace, where Noblesville makes his 4-year-old debut against the likes of classy veterans Low Rider and General Dolan. Last year, Noblesville won $250,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Final 3-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Pace, upsetting Milstein champion Sabonis. Leaving from the rail, Driver Brandon Bates gets the call on the 5-2 second choice, who has banked $534,493 lifetime, from trainer Ron Burke.
The Friday feature will be the $18,000 Open Pace, carded as race nine. A select field of six will go postward, headlined by 8-5 morning line favorite Brookview Bullet. The career half-million-dollar earner from the Henry Graber Jr. barn will be driven by Marvin Luna from post five as he takes on annual Open performers Rip Wheeler and Crooked Smile, who will be making their first starts of 2025 after six-figure campaigns last season.
Fans will notice the absence of the Harrah’s Hoosier Park passing lane in the final eighth of a mile of the homestretch. In partnership with the Indiana Standardbred Association, Harrah’s Hoosier Park will conduct a 60-day trial period without the passing lane in efforts to promote more early movement and competitive racing on the seven-eighths-mile oval. The Friday card will also be the debut for a brand-new wagering menu at Harrah’s Hoosier Park, seeing reduced takeout rates across several wagers.
The Saturday card will also see 14 races conducted, with 97 horses dropped in the box and a post time of 6:15 p.m.
Harrah’s Hoosier Park will operate on a two-day Friday and Saturday schedule for each of the first two weeks of the season. From there, Harrah’s Hoosier Park will add Thursdays on March 26, before beginning a four-day Wednesday-Saturday schedule in April. Standard post time nightly for the 2025 racing season will be 6:15 p.m.
Harrah’s Hoosier Park will yet again offer a lucrative stakes program throughout the season, highlighted by the 32nd edition of the Dan Patch Stakes (Aug. 8), the Grade 1 Peter Haughton and Jim Doherty Memorials (Sept. 12), Caesars Trotting Classic (Sept. 19), and Hoosier Champions Night (Oct. 10).
