Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Altoona, IA will stage the marquee event of its live racing season, the 2025 Iowa Festival of Racing, on Friday, July 4 and Saturday, July 5.
The two-day festival includes a total of eight stakes races, four on July 4 and four on July 5, highlighted by the Grade III $300,000-guaranteed Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap on Saturday, July 5.
The 28th running of the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker for three-year-olds and up at one and one-eighth miles drew seven runners, including last year’s winner and multiple graded stakes winner Red Route One (27 6-4-3 $2,159,107) and the 2024 Indiana Derby and West Virginia Derby winner Dragoon Guard (7 4-2-1 $766,060).
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Red Route One is trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Steve Asmussen for owner and breeder Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC.
The five-year-old son of Gun Runner – Red House, by Tapit has logged one victory, the Grade III Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park in March, from five starts in 2025.
Asmussen has also entered the Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC stablemate Unload, second to Red Route One here last year, for another try in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap.
Dragoon Guard, a four-year-old trained by Brad Cox for Juddmonte Farms Inc., put together a four-race winning streak in 2024, breaking his maiden at Keeneland last April before going on to win derbies in July and August.
Eleven Races on Saturday Including Iowa Derby
Saturday’s eleven-race Festival card also features the $100,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile (Black Type) for two-year-olds at five and one-half furlongs, the $250,000 Iowa Derby (Listed) for three-year-olds at one and one-sixteenth miles, and the $225,000 Iowa Oaks (Listed) for three-year-old fillies at one and one-sixteenth miles.
Seven three-year-olds signed on for the Iowa Derby, headed by Magnitude, another Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Steve Asmussen runner, who upped his lifetime earnings to $466,165 in winning the Grade II $500,000 Risen Star by almost ten lengths in early February at Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
Iowa Distaff and Sprint Highlight Friday Card
The four Friday stakes races are all $100,000-guaranteed Black Type affairs: the Iowa Distaff for fillies and mares three-year-olds and up at one mile and one-sixteenth, the Prairie Gold Lassie for two-year-old fillies at five and one-half furlongs, The Saylorville for fillies and mares three-year-olds and up at six furlongs, and the Iowa Sprint for three-year-olds and up at six furlongs.
A pair of million-dollar earners highlight the first day of the festival with Hoosier Philly (20 6-2-2 $1,014,965) drawing the inside post position in the Iowa Distaff, scheduled as the fifth race on Friday’s ten-race program, and Oeuvre (38 19-5-4 $1,031,386) drawing post position two in The Saylorville, the eighth race on the card.
Hoosier Philly, trained by Tom Amoss for Gold Standard Racing Stable LLC, will be out to win for the first time in five starts this year, which have included graded stakes tries at Sam Houston, Santa Anita, and Churchill Downs.
Oeuvre, handled by Chris Block for owner Richard Perkins, cuts back to her best distance after finishing fifth in a two-turn turf stakes at Hawthorne in mid-June.
The six-year-old daughter of Shackleford – Love This Kitten (Kitten’s Joy) owns seven wins and one second-place finish in eight starts at The Saylorville distance of six furlongs.
Horsemen and racing fans across the country should take note of scheduling changes for the Fourth of July racing week at Prairie Meadows.
The racing week will run from Thursday, July 3 through Sunday, July 6 with no racing scheduled on Monday, July 7.
Post time for all four days of the week is 4 PM CT.
