Monticello Raceway History: The Mighty M Since 1958

Feature Photo: Americasroof, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Monticello Raceway opened on June 27, 1958, during the golden age of the Catskills resort industry. Hotel owners and other local business interests saw harness racing as another attraction that could bring visitors to Sullivan County and give vacationers something different to do while staying in the region. Located in Monticello, New York, the half-mile track became known as the Mighty M and established itself as a home for Standardbred harness racing.

Uniquely Monticello

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Monticello Raceway was built in the heart of a region already associated with vacation resorts, bungalow colonies, and entertainment. Approximately ninety miles northwest of New York City, the track was positioned to draw patrons from the metropolitan area as well as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and communities throughout the Hudson Valley and Catskills.

The Mighty M opened with a fast half-mile oval at a time when harness racing was a major spectator sport in the Northeast. The track entered a competitive New York racing landscape that included Roosevelt Raceway and Yonkers Raceway, but Monticello developed its own identity through racing, entertainment, and unusual promotions.

In 1975, Monticello hosted the first Monticello-OTB Classic, which carried a $250,000 purse and was won by Hall of Fame pacer Silk Stockings. At the time, it was one of the richest events in racing. The Monticello-OTB Classic continued through 1985 and later returned as part of the track’s 2007 Magnificent 7 stakes program.

Over time, Monticello established itself as an innovator in harness racing promotions. Rock ‘N Racing combined racing programs with appearances by major entertainers. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Ike & Tina Turner, Natalie Cole, Bobby Vinton, and other performers were among the names associated with entertainment at the track. Monticello also became known for offbeat promotions that included elephant races and contests that matched athletes against horses.

One of the most important modern racing performances at Monticello came on July 24, 2007. Hall of Fame driver John Campbell guided Mypanmar to victory in the revived $480,000 Monticello-OTB Classic in 1:51.2. The time remains listed by Monticello Raceway as the track record for an aged pacing horse and is the fastest pacing mark on the track’s published record list.

On June 20, 1980, Monticello served as a closed-circuit host for the first championship fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran. Combining the boxing broadcast with the harness-racing program produced an attendance of 17,495, which remains the track’s published attendance record.

Changing Hands

The ownership and business direction of Monticello Raceway changed significantly as the Catskills resort industry declined. By the 1980s, the track had changed hands, and in 1996 Catskill Development purchased Monticello Raceway and surrounding property for $10 million. A portion of the property was set aside for a proposed casino project involving the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.

The casino proposal led to years of agreements, regulatory proceedings, shifting partnerships, and litigation. Catskill Development and related entities initially worked with the St. Regis Mohawks on plans for a Class III casino adjacent to the racetrack. The tribe later entered into an agreement with Park Place Entertainment, creating a long-running legal dispute over the competing casino arrangements.

Casino competition also drew opposition from Atlantic City interests. Donald Trump helped finance an advertising campaign opposing the proposed Mohawk casino. In 2000, New York lobbying regulators reached a $250,000 settlement involving Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, lobbyist Roger Stone, and the New York Institute for Law and Society over disclosure violations connected with the campaign. Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts’ portion of the settlement was $50,000.

Miracles and Mayhem

A major change finally arrived in 2004 when Empire Resorts completed a multimillion-dollar renovation and opened Mighty M Gaming at Monticello Raceway. The video lottery gaming operation transformed the facility into Monticello Casino & Raceway while harness racing continued on the half-mile track.

The early 2000s also brought another round of proposed Native American casino development. Empire Resorts worked at different times with the Cayuga Nation and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe on plans for a larger Catskills casino. Those efforts never produced the full-scale tribal casino originally envisioned at the racetrack. In January 2008, the U.S. Department of the Interior rejected the St. Regis Mohawk land-into-trust application for the Monticello project, and the parties later settled their outstanding claims.

One of the strangest stories in Monticello Raceway history became known as the Monticello Miracle. In 2006, World War II veteran Don Karkos, who worked at the track, was struck in the head by a horse named My Buddy Chimo. Karkos had lost vision in one eye decades earlier after a wartime injury aboard the USS Rapidan. After the accident at Monticello, he reported that sight returned in the damaged eye. Doctors could not say with certainty why it happened, although one ophthalmologist suggested the blow may have shifted a dislocated lens back into position.

Monticello also experienced a far darker incident in 2001. Trainer-driver Marc Mosher and veterinarian Berkeley Briggs were charged after four-year-old mare Too Much Data died before a scheduled February 20 race. Authorities alleged that the horse had been injected with a fatal dose of a performance-enhancing substance. The New York State Racing and Wagering Board and state police investigated the case, and both men had their racing licenses suspended while the criminal charges were pending.

On March 3, 2022, Monticello set a clearly documented wagering record for a single race. A total of $126,851 was wagered on the fifth race, surpassing the previous single-race mark of $126,583 established in January 2014. The nine-race card generated a total handle of $704,649.53.

Cat Fights

In 2008, the St. Regis Mohawk casino effort at Monticello came to an end after the federal government rejected the tribe’s land-into-trust application. By then, the Catskills casino story had become a complicated contest involving developers, tribal gaming proposals, state legislation, and competing resort plans.

During the following years, Empire Resorts pursued development at the former Concord Hotel property while other developers advanced competing plans. Concord Associates and affiliated companies eventually filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking as much as $1.5 billion in damages against Empire Resorts, EPR Properties, Genting-related entities, and others. The federal antitrust claims were dismissed in 2013, although portions of the dispute continued in other proceedings.

New York voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2013 allowing commercial casino gaming in designated upstate regions. Empire Resorts later received a license for the project that became Resorts World Catskills. The casino resort opened near Monticello on February 8, 2018.

With the larger Resorts World Catskills operating nearby, Empire Resorts consolidated its casino business. The video gaming and casino operations at Monticello Raceway closed permanently on April 23, 2019. The racetrack itself, however, stayed open.

Monticello Raceway Today

Monticello Raceway continues to operate as an active harness-racing facility in 2026. Its published calendar schedules racing throughout the year, and the track continues to host live Standardbred racing, simulcasting, and New York Sire Stakes competition. Current race results and driver standings confirm that the Mighty M remains an operating racetrack rather than a closed piece of Catskills history.

The track is owned and operated through Empire Resorts’ Monticello Raceway Management subsidiary. Although the casino that once occupied the property is gone, the racing operation has survived the dramatic changes that reshaped both the Catskills resort business and New York gambling.

More than sixty-eight years after its 1958 opening, Monticello remains a working half-mile harness track. The crowds are smaller than they were during the height of the Catskills era, but the Mighty M continues to send horses to the starting gate, preserving a direct connection to a period when harness racing and the great Sullivan County resorts shared the same audience.

Readers interested in more New York racing history can also explore the history of Saratoga Racetrack, Yonkers Raceway, Roosevelt Raceway, and the history of the Meadowlands Racetrack.