Buried away in a joint release about a contract extension between MGM Yonkers and the Standardbred Owners Association of New York was a mention that the track would supply financial support for the MGM Yonkers International Trot. The $1,000,000 event, which fell victim to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, will return to Yonkers next year according to SOA President Joe Faraldo. "The International Trot is in the contract now. They have to have the race," said Faraldo. "It is an extremely important race. To the Europeans and everyone else in the world, they call it the world championship, because they don't have a race like that. The closest you can get maybe is the Elitloppet, but there you get a lot of European horses with maybe one from the U.S. Here we get a number of European countries represented" The financial support in the new contract, which lasts through May 31, 2025, will help cover some of the social portions for the event so that foreign invitees enjoy a first-rate experience while in the New York area. The purse will remain at $1,000,000. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter First contested in 1959, the International Trot returned from a 19-year hiatus in 2015 when Papagayo E won the mile-and-a-quarter race. In 2019, Zacon Gio won the 41st edition of the race. The return of the International is just one of many nuggets of information to come from the new contract between Yonkers Raceway and its horseperson population. Saturday racing will return in 2022 from May to September according to Faraldo, who pointed to the opportunity of drawing people to the track as the reason for insisting on the weekend date. "Handle on Saturday and Wednesday nights has been virtually the same, give or take $30,000, but people can't come out to the track as much on a Wednesday during the work week," said Faraldo. "Racing on Saturday provides people with greater opportunity to watch the races live and increases the chances of drawing in new fans." Other contract highlights include an increase in yearly racing dates from 234 to 240 and a guarantee that purses will not fall below 2019 levels if MGM gets a full casino at Yonkers Raceway. Currently horsemen get a fixed percentage of the net win from VLT's and the purse account guarantee is based off 2013 levels. When it comes to the physical plant, Faraldo mentioned that Yonkers would either have a new tote board or the current one would be repaired by the end of 2022 and that he was still unsatisfied with the condition of the track. "I'm happy with what they tried to do but they haven't succeeded," said Faraldo on the recent refurbishment of the track surface. "I'm not happy with the daily maintenance schedule or the maintenance personnel. The racetrack hasn't knitted well at all because of the material that was used. It required limestone to try to help it knit. They did a soil sampling and analysis. When the report comes out and we know what needs to be done to make the track knit, I'm sure [management] will do it."