Yonkers Raceway

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Empire City Gaming at Yonkers Raceway is a ¹⁄₂-mile standardbred harness racing track and New York state-approved video-lottery terminal (VLT) racino located at the intersection of Central Park Avenue and Yonkers Avenue (between exits 1 and 2 of the New York State Thruway) in Yonkers, New York near the New York City border.

Yonkers Raceway, considered a city landmark, was first opened in 1899. At the time it was called Empire City Trotting Club. After its first year of operation, it remained closed for most of the next seven years except for special events, then reopened as a thoroughbred race track in 1907. It continued to host "the flats" until 1942, when it was converted back to being a harness track. In 1950 it was renamed Yonkers Raceway. Its popularity having greatly declined since the 1960s (when crowds would occasionally reach 50,000), the entire property, according to some, had become an eyesore due to its owners leaving it in a state of disrepair.

Yonkers Raceway is currently undergoing a US$225 million renovation to put in approximately 7,500 high-tech slot machines. The first phase opened on October 11, 2006, with 1,870 VLT machines installed.^[1] Despite a "soft opening", with no major advertising or promotional campaigns, Yonkers netted $3.8 million in revenue in its first week, outpacing its nearest competitor, Saratoga Gaming and Raceway, by two-thirds.^[2] The second phase of the project, which will open in December of 2006, will add 120,000 square feet of space and bring the total number of VLT machines to 5,500. The third phase will eventually add 2,000 more VLT machines and a 5,000-car parking lot.

Yonkers Raceway could not immediately restart harness racing due to 64 fire code violations charged on the portions of the facility that were closed or under construction. The New York State Racing and Wagering Board required that the violations be cleared before both racing and simulcasting could resume.^[3] On November 10, the state board, confident that all outstanding safety issues would be addressed, issued Yonkers a racing license^[4] , and racing officially resumed on November 17.

It is estimated that Yonkers will eventually attract an average of 30,000 visitors a day, compared to only 700 visitors a day when racing was suspended in June of 2005.^[5]

Yonkers previously was the site of the Cane Pace, one of the legs of the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers. It is now the host track for another leg, the Messenger Stakes. Yonkers is also home to the Yonkers Trot, one of the legs of the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Trotters. Due to the renovations at Yonkers, the Messenger and Yonkers Trot were moved to different racetracks for the 2004 and 2005 editions. The Messenger was moved to Harrington Raceway in Delaware in both years, and the Yonkers Trot was moved to Hawthorne Racecourse in Stickney, IL in 2004, and Freehold Raceway in New Jersey in 2005.

Yonkers Raceway ran both the Yonkers Trot and the Messenger on November 25, 2006, becoming the first harness track in America to host two Triple Crown races on the same day. Glidemaster, by virtue of winning the $728,000 Yonkers Trot, became the eighth horse to clinch the Trotting Triple Crown.

Yonkers Raceway is also home to the Art Rooney Pace for three year olds. However, continued delays in the reopening of the track forced the 2006 edition of the race to be moved to Monticello Raceway.^[6]

Yonkers Raceway is currently run by Timothy Rooney, Sr. Mr. Rooney is son to Pittsburgh Steelers former owner Arthur Rooney and brother to current owner Dan Rooney.