Fort Erie Race Track Opens 129th Thoroughbred Season on Sunday, May 31

Fort Erie Race Track will open its 129th season of live Thoroughbred racing on Sunday, May 31, running through Oct. 20 in what shapes up as one of the most programmatically ambitious schedules the Ontario track has put together in recent memory.

Opening day, which has shifted to a Sunday format this year, sets the tone immediately. When the gates open on May 31, the card features two cup races: the Summer Solstice Cup and the Sprint Into Summer Cup. Beyond the racing itself, a farmer's market and food trucks will be on site, and the evening closes with a concert by The Figure Four, a Niagara-based band. It is a deliberate mix of racing product and general entertainment, and it signals exactly what general manager Drew Cady is trying to build across the full five-month calendar.

"We believe strongly in the province's Destination Niagara strategy, and this race calendar puts us in a good position to be one of Niagara's premier tourist destinations this summer," Cady said. "This summer, we're inviting racing enthusiasts, families, and tourists alike to experience the excitement of live thoroughbred racing in one of the most beautiful settings in Ontario."

Before any of that happens, horses will begin shipping into the track's backstretch in early April for spring training, with backstretch preparations already underway ahead of the May 31 opener.

The season's special events calendar runs in a logical progression through the summer and fall. Father's Day racing returns in June. July brings both a Canada Day celebration and the Wiener Dog Races, the track's signature novelty event for families. August features the Corgi and Basset Hound Races. Then comes the signature stakes day: the 91st running of the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second jewel in Canada's Triple Crown, which has been moved to Labour Day weekend in September for 2026. The race has historically drawn national attention and significant wagering activity, and placing it on a holiday weekend gives the track its best shot at maximizing both. The season closes in October with Track-O-Lantern, the track's Halloween bash.

Threading through all of it is expanded Sunday racing, a food truck festival, and free concerts across the summer. The schedule is explicitly designed, in Cady's framing, "to provide a full season of events that both the hardcore thoroughbred fan and the horse racing newcomer can both enjoy."

The Prince of Wales move to Labour Day is the most consequential scheduling decision of the 2026 season. Putting Canada's Triple Crown second leg on a long weekend, rather than a mid-week or standalone Saturday, gives bettors and casual fans alike a reason to make Fort Erie a destination rather than a stop. Whether the field quality matches the moment will be the real story come September, but the structural decision is sound.

The full race calendar with post times is available at forterieracing.com.