When the Yonkers Raceway re-opened on Monday, June 22 after being shutdown for 15 weeks after being a coronavirus pandemic hot spot, it seemed like everything was back on trackl.

But with MGM’s Empire Casino still dark the corporate owners announced an racing would run only through Saturday, Sept. 12, which is New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) Night of Champions.

The MGM press release explains that racing would have ceased in August if not for the Standardbred Owners Association of New York (SOA) agreeing to contribute $1.2 million to purses.

The $1.2 million is coming from the SOA treasury and is not purse money. It is money that would otherwise be used for administration, welfare and retirement benefits for their membership, but the SOA did not believe that this amount would affect the form of benefits or services that they provide.

Even though Night of Champions is secure on the calendar, other stakes were not so fortunate.

The Yonkers Trot, the Messenger Stakes and their companion races – the New York, New York Mile (formerly the Hudson Filly Trot) and the MGM Park Place (formerly the Lady Maud) – are casualties of COVID-19.

There just isn’t anymore money to keep those big races going at Yonkers’ historic oval.

However, there is a hope that another track would step up to host the Triple Crown races, but so far no one wants to shell out the cash for these trotter events.