Hollywood Dayton Racing season to open

Hollywood Dayton Raceway opens its fifth harness racing season Monday with a 14-race card. Post time is 2:15 p.m.

The 76-day meet runs through Dec. 29. The highlight of the season will be a pair of Grand Circuit races — the Dayton Pacing Derby and Dayton Trotting Derby — on Sept. 28. Each race will have an estimated purse of $150,000.

“Each year we’ve attracted the best older horses in North America for those races and we expect to again,” said race secretary Gregg Keidel.

Another favorite event in the season is the Buckeyes vs. Hoosiers Driving Championship on Dec. 8.

On Sept. 23, the Montgomery County Fair will run its first card at the 5/8th mile oval. Post time is 1 p.m.

Lebanon driver Kayne Kauffman returns to defend his 2017 driving title.

“We have a really competitive driving colony,” Keidel said. “Three of the top 10 dash winning drivers in North America are regulars here — Dan Noble, Chris Page and Trace Tetrick. And a couple of days a week we’ll have Aaron Merriman, who is No. 1 in the country, and Ronnie Wrenn Jr., who is No 2.”

The season includes racing every Monday and Tuesday afternoon at 2:15 and evening cards every Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a 6:15 post.

The only exceptions are next week Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (Sept. 17, 18 and 20) when the track closes in deference to the Little Brown Jug in Delaware. There will be no racing on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.