Tioga Downs Casino opens for live racing this year on its customary date of Kentucky Derby Day, Saturday, May 3. This year’s season provides a total of 61 live race dates and plenty of promotions, including bulldog, basset hound, and wiener dog races, comedy night, giveaways, animal exhibits, and contests.
Opening day features live harness races, with the first post at 5 p.m. Racing-starved patrons can enjoy the biggest day in Thoroughbred racing coupled with the return of live horse races for the first time since last fall.
Derby hat contestants arrived for last year’s Derby Day. (File photo / Wendy Post)
Arrive early to participate in the Derby Hat Contest, get your free magnet calendar and t-shirt, and enter to win a $500 Derby Dream Bet. Racing fans can watch and wager on the 151st Kentucky Derby, which will be simulcast throughout the facility and on the video board in the infield. The “Derby break” will come after the fourth race, from approximately 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Eight New York Sire Stakes cards will take place this season, featuring the game’s top drivers and horses, with the $500,000 Empire Breeders Classic Finals for three-year-old colt and filly pacers on Sunday, August 24.
Tioga Downs is set to host various recurring weekly promotional events. “Bingo and Beer Night” is every Friday, featuring Harness Racing Bingo and $2 draft beers. Sunday “Family Day” Specials feature food specials and free bounce houses, water slides, farm tours, face painting, starting gate rides, and more.
On May 3, Tioga Downs in Nichols, N.Y. will kick off its harness racing season. Photo provided.
Tioga Downs also offers fireworks nights, a Hambletonian Trip giveaway, “Corntastic Weekend,” and great food specials throughout the season.
For more information about the 2025 racing season and promotions, visit www.TiogaDowns.com.
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