ALTOONA, IA—MAY 22, 2020—Today Gary Palmer, President and CEO of Prairie Meadows, on behalf of the executive staff, recommended the backside be opened June 1st. This recommendation was then approved by a vote of the Prairie Meadows Board of Directors. Backside safety protocols, due to the COVID-19 virus, will be announced soon.

In conjunction with the backside opening, racing dates have been tentatively requested and will go to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission’s June 4th meeting for their approval.

For quarter horses, those tentative racing dates are from June 26th-September 26th, a total of 54 days of racing. Racing will be four days a week Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

As announced earlier, Prairie Meadows’ 2020 mixed meet format will feature quarter horses running a minimum of 3 races per day and those races will always be run first on the daily racing card.

New stakes schedules have been discussed and will be approved shortly. In addition, the new condition books will be completed soon and will be available on the Prairie Meadows website as well as Equibase.

We are very excited about the 2020 quarter horse racing season and look forward to seeing everyone at Prairie Meadows soon.

Thank you!, Thomas Lepic
President IQHRA