Balmoral Park readying for 2009 season

With live racing set to resume at Balmoral Park in less than one week on Wednesday, Jan. 28 (post time 7:20 p.m. central), another exciting year of stakes filled action at the Crete plant has been announced with the first stakes event of the season on Saturday, April 4 with the $15,000 Taurus Bomber Stake putting this year’s 3-year-old colt pacing crop front and center.

The first “major” Illinois-bred stake of the 2009 campaign will be contested on May 24 as the $50,000 Violet Stake final (3yo filly pace) takes center stage. The $50,000 Violet Stake (3yo filly trot) will be held on June 2 while the sophomore colts take their shot at the $50,000 Cardinal finals for trotters on June 3 and pacers on June 6. 

The first Hanover Stake of the 2009 season takes place on Tuesday, July 14, as 3yo filly trotters go for a purse of $50,000. There will be a quartet of Hanover Stakes on Saturday, July 18 as 2- and 3-year-old filly and colt pacers will slug it for $50,000 jackpots. Sophomore trotting colts will be in action on the next night as they battle for $50,000 in yet another Hanover Stake.

The first-ever Chicago Southland Festival of Racing will take place over a four-night span with a total of 10 brand new Illinois conceived and foaled events each going for a $50,000 purse on Saturday, Aug. 1, Sunday, Aug. 2, Tuesday, Aug. 4 and Wednesday, Aug. 5. A pair of American National Stakes closes out the month with sophomore trotting colts going for $200,000 on Saturday, Aug. 29 while their female counterparts battle for $180,000 on the same card.

September means Super Night at Balmoral Park and once again all eyes will be focused on the action which takes place on Saturday, Sept. 19. Over $1.5 million in purse money will be up for grabs as Illinois’ finest pacers and trotters strut their stuff on Illinois’ richest night of racing. American National Stakes will also be highlighted towards the back end of the month with a pair of $125,000 battles for diagonally gaited 2 year olds on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

October begins with the biggest nights of the year for state-bred 2-year-old trotters as the fillies go postward in the $125,000 Lady Lincoln Land on Tuesday, Oct. 6 and the colts slug it out in the Lincoln Land Stake on Wednesday, Oct. 7. Each stake carries a purse of $125,000. Also included in the October schedule are the $50,000 finals of the Sarah Myers Stakes and Cardinal & Violet Stakes for 2 year olds. Rounding out the month will be a pair of $60,000 Hanover Stakes for 2-year-old colt and filly trotters.

November promises to be a busy month with a pair of $40,000 Sarah Myers Stakes for 2-year-old trotters getting the action underway on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The big American National Festival of Racing takes place on Saturday, Nov. 14. Approximately $1,000,000 in purse money will be on the line that with six big prestigious American National Stakes bringing some of North America’s finest equine athletes to Balmoral.

The live racing schedule at Balmoral is a bit different than in past seasons. From Wednesday, Jan. 28 until Wednesday, April 29, Balmoral Park will present live racing on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7:20 p.m. (central) and on Sundays at 6:30 p.m. (central).

From Saturday, May 2, up until Saturday, Oct. 31, Balmoral will then shift over to its familiar four-day-a-week schedule with live racing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday at 7:20 p.m. and Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

Balmoral will close out the year by going back to a three-day-a-week schedule (Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday) from Nov. 1 thru Dec. 30. (Balmoral Park)

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