Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville, Ind., opens its 123-day mixed Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meet on Tuesday with a sprint-heavy 10-race card that drew 99 horses. Not a single race is longer than 5 1/2 furlongs, and all the races are on dirt. The meet runs through Nov. 17. The 10-race Wednesday card, which drew 94 entries, has six races at 5 1/2 furlongs, two races at a mile, one race at a mile and 70 yards, and one for Quarter Horses. All are on dirt. Sprint races, full fields, and dirt racing will play a major role in the first two weeks of the meet, said Eric Halstrom, the general manager of the track. But the racing menu should open up in the first week of May, when the backstretch begins filling with horses heading north after the end of meets at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas and Tampa Bay Downs in Florida. “That’s kind of been the case in Indiana over the last couple of years, where maybe some of the local horses aren’t ready to go six furlongs or longer yet,” Halstrom said. “So we’ll start going longer once we get those other horses up here.” :: Bet the races on DRF Bets! Sign up with code WINNING to get a $250 Deposit Match, $10 Free Bet, and FREE DRF Formulator.  Turf racing is slated for the first card in May, according to the condition book. “The course is in great shape right now, but with the long meet, we just like to get a later start in May,” Halstrom said. Horseshoe tweaked its wagering menu this year, dropping a jackpot-style progressive bet that drew little attention from bettors over its two-year lifespan. To make up for the absence, Horseshoe added a second pick five to the daily menu. Each of the pick five bets will have a 11.99 percent takeout, lowest for that bet type in the country. It’s the first time Horseshoe will have two pick fives on the menu, Halstrom said. The track’s two graded stakes races are the Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby and Grade 3, $200,000 Indiana Oaks. Both will be held on July 8. That card will include six other stakes, each worth $100,000. The track’s showcase card for Indiana-bred Thoroughbred and Quarter Horses will take place on Oct. 28, and include the $250,000 Unreachable Star and the $200,000 Lady Fog Horn. The Oct. 4 program will include four Indiana-bred prep stakes for Thoroughbreds, with two stakes worth $100,000 and two others worth $150,000. Except for this week, racing will be conducted Tuesday to Thursday and on some Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays. First post on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays is 2:30 p.m. Eastern, while racing on Thursdays and Fridays will start at 2:10 p.m. The Saturday cards begin at 10:45 a.m., noon, or 5:30 p.m. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.