The Detroit-area track runs Fridays and Saturdays through September 3.

© Hazel Park

Hazel Park offers Thoroughbred, American Quarter Horse, Paint and Arabian racing on Fridays and Saturdays through closing day, September 3. Friday’s opening-day card opens with a 300-yard, $5,000 maiden-special-weight dash for Quarter Horses and Paints.

Hazel Park’s 2015 meet ended abruptly due to a shortfall in purse funding. Ladd Biro, the track’s director of racing, told Daily Racing Form that the decision to start the meet later than last year’s May 1 opener should help increase field sizes early in the season.

“Winter can retard the speed with which horses can train here,” Biro said. “Last year, we had a little bit of a shortage. I think opening up late in the season, there will be more horses that are race-ready. We’ll pick up with the purse account being just about the same as we were last year.”

For more information about Hazel Park’s Quarter Horse program, visit the Great Lakes Quarter Horse Association’s website.

AQHA News and information is a service of the American Quarter Horse Association. For more news and information, follow @AQHARacing on Twitter, watch the AQHA Racing Newscast and visit www.aqharacing.com.