Iowa Festival of Racing Nominations Close On Saturday, June 21, 2025

Iowa Festival of Racing Nominations Close On Saturday, June 21, 2025
Birzer Closing In On 4000 Wins; Bart Hone Off To Hot Start

June 20, 2025 – Altoona, IA. The marquee event of the Prairie Meadows Thoroughbred stakes schedule opens on Friday, July 4 with three black type stakes races: The $100,000 Saylorville for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, at six furlongs, the $100,000 Iowa Sprint for three-year-olds and up at six furlongs, and the $100,000 Iowa Distaff for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, at one and one-sixteenth miles.

The Iowa Festival of Racing continues on Saturday, July 5 with the listed $250,000 Iowa Derby for three-year-olds at one and one-sixteenth miles, the $225,000 Iowa Distaff for three-year-old fillies at one and one-sixteenth miles, and the Grade III $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap for three-year-olds and up at one and one-eighth miles.

“The Iowa Festival of Racing not only acts as an exciting two days of racing, but also a great stepping stone towards future success for its participants,” said Prairie Meadows Thoroughbred Racing Secretary Eric DeCoster. “Year-in and year-out, horses who run in these stakes go on to win other major stakes races, participate at the Breeders’ Cup, and even win races like the Dubai World Cup, as Hit Show did after running in the 2024 Cornhusker.”

DeCoster added, “Nominations are already rolling in from around the country and we look forward to a very strong couple of days at the entry box for the Festival races.”

Horsemen and racing fans alike should take note of scheduling changes for the 4th of July racing week at Prairie Meadows. The racing week will run from Thursday, July 3 through Sunday, July 6 with no racing on Monday, July 7.

The annual fireworks show begins after the races at dusk on Thursday, July 3. Post time for all four days of the week is 4PM CT.

Jockey Alex Birzer Closing In On 4,000 Lifetime Victories

Veteran jockey Alex Birzer, a mainstay in the Prairie Meadows riding colony for nearly three decades, starts the seventh week of the 2025 Thoroughbred season six wins shy of the 4,000-win plateau.

The leading rider at this track four out of the last five seasons, Birzer began the meet 22 victories shy of the milestone.

“I still can’t get over the number,” Birzer commented in the Prairie Meadows jockeys room last week. “When I started riding, I never dreamed I’d get to 4,000. Now it’s right around the corner and it’s eye-opening. It makes me think about all the people that helped me get this far; my family, my agents, all the owners and trainers.”

Birzer reached the 2,000-win level at Prairie Meadows on June 4, 2010.  Seven years later, on February 26, 2017, Birzer hit 3,000 wins with a victory at Oaklawn Park.

When Birzer reaches the milestone, he will join fellow veterans Glenn Corbett and Ken Tohill as jockeys based at Prairie Meadows with 4,000 or more lifetime wins.

Conditioner Bart Hone Off To A Hot Start At Prairie Meadows

Trainer Bart Hone, based at Prairie Meadows for the first time in a decade, ended the sixth week of the 2025 meet with some eye-catching statistics.

Hone stood at eight wins, two seconds, and two thirds from 14 starts for a 57% win rate and an 86% in the money rate.

“I thought I had some talented three-year-olds and that’s why I decided to come back to Prairie Meadows,” Hone explained. “It’s getting tougher and tougher to find good opportunities for the three-year-olds that come through my barn and I decided Iowa was the right place to be this summer.”

He enjoyed a near-perfect fifth week of the meet with four winners and one second from his five starters.

Hone sent out three winners on Saturday June 7 including Panthers Stakes winner A Thousand Miles and Prairie Mile Stakes winner Mickswagger, two of the top three-year-olds in his barn.

About Prairie Meadows

Prairie Meadows began operations as a nonprofit organization in 1989 with the goal of promoting economic development, jobs, agriculture, and tourism in the state of Iowa. Through taxes and charitable donations, Prairie Meadows has given more than $2.3 billion to the state of Iowa. Prairie Meadows offers slot machines, table games, live and simulcast racing, sports wagering, hotel accommodations, entertainment, and more.

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