Yonkers Raceway

Founded in 1899, historic Yonkers Raceway has been bringing the excitement of racing to the public for over a hundred years. Thoroughbred racing was held on the track from 1907 to 1943, and many famous horses like Seabiscuit raced here. Harness racing returned after 1943 and has since been the primary focus of the track, although recently gaming machines have been added to the facility. The renovation in 2005 added over 2,000 video gaming machines and restaurants to serve its patrons.

Yonkers Raceway holds a singular distinction over all other harness tracks… it is home to one leg of the Trotting Triple Crown and one leg of the Pacing Triple Crown. Yonkers Raceway hosts the Yonkers Trot, the third leg of the Trotters Triple Crown. The other two legs include the Hambletonian, hosted at the Meadowlands, and the Kentucky Futurity, held at The Red Mile. To date, there have only been eight horses to win the Trotting Triple Crown, the most recent when Glidemaster won the honors in 2006.

The Yonkers Trot was first run in 1955. The length of the race was shortened to a mile in 1963, when the name was also changed from the Yonkers Futurity to the Yonkers Trot. It has been run at Yonkers Raceway every year with the exception of 2004 and 2005, when it was run at Hawthorne Racecourse and Freehold Raceway, respectively, due to renovations at Yonkers. In 1992, the race ended in a dead heat, much to the excitement of the crowd. Magic Lobell and McCluckey both took home the win that year.

The Messenger Stakes is the third leg in the Pacing Triple Crown. It is also held at Yonkers Raceway. Named after Messenger, a gray English horse foaled in 1780 and imported to the United States, it honors one of the four original stallions that helped contribute to the U. S. racing bloodlines. The other two legs of this venerable Triple Crown include the Cane Pace, which is held at Freehold Raceway, and the Little Brown Jug, hosted at the Delaware County Fair in Ohio. The Pacing Triple Crown has been won ten times since 1956, most recently in 2003 by No Pan Intended.

The first winner of the Messenger Stakes was Belle Acton, in 1956. Other winners of merit have included Bret Hanover in 1965, Niatross in 1980, Gryffindor in 2005, and Somebeachsomewhere in 2008. The Messenger Stakes began its history at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York. When that track closed in 1988, the race was shuffled from Rosecroft Raceway to Freestate Raceway to Yonkers Raceway back and forth until 1995, when it moved to the Meadows Racetrack. Although it was due to return to Yonkers in 2004, the track was undergoing extensive renovations at the time, so it did not return to Yonkers until 2006. Like the Little Brown Jug, the Messenger Stakes is run in several heats, so the ultimate winner had to prove his stamina by winning both an elimination and the final race on the same day to declared the winner. In 2006, however, the elimination heats were held a week before the final, and that is how it is currently run to this day.

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