Arapahoe Park will host live horse racing in Aurora, Colorado, in 2016 from May 20 to August 14. The racetrack will feature 39 days of Thoroughbred, Arabian, and American Quarter Horse racing taking place on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. There will be special racing programs on Memorial Day, May 30, and on the Fourth of July, and during these holiday weekends there will be racing on Mondays instead of Fridays. The first race each day will be at 1 p.m.
Arapahoe Park’s opening weekend of racing in 2016 will coincide with the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel of the Triple Crown, from Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Saturday, May 21.
“While we’ve normally begun our season on Memorial Day Weekend, we want our fans in Colorado to enjoy live racing while following the buzz of the Triple Crown on the heels of American Pharoah in 2015,” Arapahoe Park Executive Director Bruce Seymore said.
Arapahoe Park opened in 1984 and has raced every summer since 1992, making 2016 its 25th year in a row of horse racing. On the final day of the 2015 season, the track hosted the richest day of horse racing in the history of the Rocky Mountain State with $500,210 in total purses on August 16, 2015.
“Last year was the best year we’ve ever had at Arapahoe Park, and we hope the momentum continues in 2016,” Seymore said.
Stall applications are available on the racetrack’s website, www.mihiracing.com. The stable area will open on April 19, and the racetrack will open for training on April 20. The stakes schedule and condition book will be released in February.