Horse racing is back at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course in Austintown, Ohio, and the practical question for anyone thinking of going is simple: when, and how do you make a day of it? The season opened Monday with the first race in the early afternoon, and it runs through April, per WKBN. Races primarily run during the week starting at 12:15 p.m., with some Sundays added to the schedule this year.
The venue is a Mahoning Valley institution rather than a Hollywood one, but the name on the marquee earns it a place on the Hollywood beat for anyone tracking the brands that trade on the name. What follows is a working guide to the season, built strictly on what the track and its general manager have said publicly.
When should you go, and what time do races start?
The reliable answer is weekdays. Races primarily run during the week starting at 12:15 p.m., so plan to arrive before lunch if you want to catch the first card. The track has also thrown some Sundays onto the schedule this year, a change general manager Erich Zimny tied directly to results: makeup days last year were successful business-wise, so the track made Sundays part of the plan. His framing of it was incremental — always trying to tweak it here and there.
That means the practical move is to check the schedule before you commit a Sunday. Weekdays are the sure bet, in scheduling terms at least. The season itself stretches through April, so there is a long window to work with rather than a short burst of opening-week crowds. Readers following this should also see How Box Office Numbers Actually Get Reported, From Sunday Estimate to Monday Actual.
What is actually running, and how big is the operation?
The scale is larger than a casual visitor might expect. Zimny says the track has around 1,000 horses for this season. Many are local, traveling a circuit at other racetracks within Ohio before coming to Austintown; others ship in from neighboring states. On opening Monday, about 50 horses ran across the day's eight races.
The staffing number is the one that changes how you look at the grandstand. Zimny says roughly 100 employees work a race day just on the racing side, not counting the horsemen's operations. "People don't realize the number of people it takes to put on a day like this," he told WKBN. "A lot more goes into it than people see on the track."
How should a first-timer approach the betting?
The most useful advice on record comes from a regular, not the track. Attendee Rich Averall, who said he tries to make opening day every season, keeps it deliberately light. "Don't take the betting seriously," he told WKBN. His method: look at the horses, sometimes pick on sight, check the odds too.
That is a workable framework for a first visit. Treat the wager as the price of the afternoon's entertainment rather than an income strategy, and use the posted odds as a sanity check on whatever the horse in front of you is telling you. Zimny's own description of the draw supports the same approach — it is the whole production that pulls people in. "The energy of the horses... people betting and cheering and trainers cheering on their horses," he said. "It's just the whole product and production is what gets me." We covered a connected angle in How to Move to LA and Break Into the Entertainment Industry Without Going Broke First.
What else should you know before you go?
A short checklist, every item sourced:
- Location: Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course, Austintown, Ohio.
- Season length: through April, per the track's general manager.
- Post time: 12:15 p.m. on primary race days, which are mostly weekdays.
- New this year: some Sundays on the schedule, added after successful makeup days last season.
- Field size: about 1,000 horses on the season roster; roughly 50 ran across eight races on opening Monday.
One more practical note: opening day draws regulars who plan around it. Averall's attendance habit — making opening day a tradition — suggests the first card carries a particular atmosphere. If you want the room at its fullest, that is the date. If you want room to move around, pick a midweek card in November.
Why the season's shape matters
The Sunday experiment is the detail worth watching. Tracks rarely change their calendars without a reason, and Zimny gave one: last year's makeup days performed well enough that Sundays earned a permanent-ish slot. If attendance holds, expect the schedule to keep bending toward weekends. If it does not, the weekday 12:15 p.m. pattern will reassert itself. Either way, the season runs long enough that a reader has until April to find out — and, as Averall put it, it is kind of exciting knowing the season is just starting.
