Photo:

Fonner Park / Ellis Collins

Fonner Park resumes its standard 31-day racing season with opening day set for Saturday and a first-race post time Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. EST. Friday racing begins Feb. 28 with a 4:00 p.m. EST Friday post time changes to 4 p.m. EST on March 14.

Kevin Roman, 2024 champion jockey at the Nebraska track, has arrived as has 2024 leading trainer Izzy Gonzalez, who is now a six-time Fonner Park leading trainer.

Jose Medina was second in the 2024 jockey standings, and he too has returned for the 2025 season, which runs through Kentucky Derby day, May 3.

Trainer Mark Hibdon set the national mark for the most wins by one horse in 2024 when his Tennessee Moon won 13 of 18 races, including four wins at Fonner Park. Hibdon has a Fonner Park race planned for Tennessee Moon in early March.

Entries were strong for opening day; eight of the ten races on Saturday have eight-horse fields or more.

“Every year we try to make a noticeable improvement for our horses and horsepeople who race at Fonner Park,” said Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak. “During the off season we spent over $100,000 on a new starting gate. A truck to pull it and a new water truck cost us over another $100,000 on top of that.”

Fonner Park race fans who enter the grandstand via the north entrance will see a newly remodeled area to accommodate guests and serve as an eventual portal into the seven-story resort hotel casino when completed later this spring. The clubhouse has added one large and one giant LED television screen. The exclusive Turf Club has eight new flatscreen TVs.