Meadowlands FanDuel Championships 2026: Schedule and How to Watch

Meadowlands FanDuel Championships 2026: schedule and post times

The Meadowlands FanDuel Championships 2026 card, also billed as Fall Final Four Night, is Saturday, November 14, at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The first race goes at 6:20 p.m. ET, and the eight stakes run from race 4 at 7:35 p.m. to race 11 at 10:35 p.m.

The track calls it the final major stakes card of 2026. The eight purses add up to about $2.27 million, according to the Meadowlands release published by U.S. Trotting News on November 12.

All times below are Eastern and are scheduled post times. Harness cards often drift a few minutes, so tune in early.

The four FanDuel races are for horses aged 3 and up. The last four are the 2-year-old finals that make up the Fall Final Four.

How to watch Meadowlands harness racing on Saturday

The national TV home is FS2 (Fox Sports 2), as part of NYRA's 'America's Day at the Races' series. The track's November 12 release gives the window as 9 to 11 p.m. ET.

One thing to check: the Meadowlands event page lists FS2 from 8 to 11 p.m. The two don't match, and a 9 p.m. start would come after the first four stakes have gone, so look at your TV listings on Saturday.

Your options:

• TV: FS2, Saturday night (9 to 11 p.m. ET per the release; 8 to 11 p.m. per the track's event page).
• Online: playmeadowlands.com has a live and replay video section, plus free program pages for the card.
• In person: first race is 6:20 p.m. at the Meadowlands. Check the track's site for admission details before you go.
• Replays: the track posts race replays after the card.

If you only have an hour, watch from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. ET. That stretch holds the Open Trot, the Open Mares Pace and the Open Pace.

On To Norway vs Super Chapter: the FanDuel Open Trot 2026

Race 5 is the one the sport has been waiting for. The $300,000 FanDuel Open Trot brings together two standout 4-year-old trotters, and Daily Racing Form called it a virtual match race.

What is confirmed about the rivalry

• On To Norway beat Super Chapter by a neck in the Graduate Series final at the Meadowlands on July 4, and by a neck again in the Hambletonian Maturity on July 11, per DRF.
• Super Chapter won the Dayton Trotting Derby on October 17, a race in which On To Norway broke stride, per DRF.
• On To Norway then won the $600,000 Breeders Crown Open Trot on October 24 at Scioto Downs, with Super Chapter behind him. We covered that night in our Breeders Crown 2026 recap.
• The Meadowlands release says the two have met four times this year and that On To Norway leads 3-1, which makes Saturday their fifth meeting.

The two accounts line up: three wins for On To Norway, two of them by a neck, and one for Super Chapter.

Why it matters for year-end honors

Super Chapter has the deeper list of big wins: the Cashman Memorial, the Maple Leaf Trot, the $1 million Yonkers International Trot and the Dayton Trotting Derby. On To Norway has the head-to-head edge, the Breeders Crown and the Hambletonian Maturity.

The Meadowlands release says a win would give On To Norway Trotter of the Year and put him in the Horse of the Year conversation. It also says a Super Chapter win could be enough to swing the trotting title his way. That is the track's read, not a result: voters decide.

The names to know

• On To Norway: trained by Ron Burke, drawn in post 2. DRF lists him with 40 wins from 49 career starts.
• Super Chapter: trained by Marcus Melander, post 4, with Dexter Dunn listed to drive. DRF reports he is expected to stand at Hanover Shoe Farms next year.
• Also entered: Lexus Kody, last year's champion older male trotter, and Aetos Kronos S, among others.

Twin B Joe Fresh's final race

Race 6, the $150,000 FanDuel Open Mares Pace at 8:25 p.m., is billed by the track as the last start of Twin B Joe Fresh's career. She was the 2024 Horse of the Year, taking 126 of 142 ballots.

The 6-year-old mare is trained by Chris Ryder. She arrives on four straight wins, including the Dayton Distaff Derby and the Breeders Crown Mare Pace on October 24, which she won in 1:48.1 to equal the stakes record.

After that Breeders Crown win, U.S. Trotting News put her career line at 43 wins from 63 starts and about $3.51 million in earnings. A win Saturday would send her out on a five-race streak.

One note of caution: after the Breeders Crown, her trainer said the plan was not to race her next year but added a 'we'll see.' The 'final start' wording comes from the track's release this week.

What is the Meadowlands Fall Final Four?

The Fall Final Four is the Meadowlands' set of four late-season finals for 2-year-olds, one for each combination of gait and sex. Think of it as the last big exam for the freshman class before they turn 3.

• Valley Victory: colt and gelding trotters. Kindergarten winner Bentley Blue Chip meets Command Center.
• Goldsmith Maid: filly trotters. Breeders Crown winner Birr Castle faces Kountry Plunge, unbeaten in seven starts.
• Three Diamonds: filly pacers. Miss Dolce and Ohio standout Cleveland Darby are the names in the release.
• Governor's Cup: colt and gelding pacers. Hades, Eastie Boy and Seine headline. The Governor's Cup harness racing 2026 final is the last of the eight stakes, at 10:35 p.m. The release lists 14 races on the card, so racing continues after it.

These races matter beyond the purse. Two-year-old divisional titles are often still open in mid-November, and next year's Hambletonian and Meadowlands Pace hopefuls come out of this group.

The four FanDuel races work differently. They are the finals of a points series for horses aged 3 and up. Under the published conditions, horses paid into the series earn points in designated stakes during the year, and the top nine point earners that are declared and have started in at least half of their division's point races are guaranteed a berth. To fill the gate, the Meadowlands may also invite winners of major stakes such as the Breeders Crown, the Hambletonian and the Little Brown Jug, which is how the season's top 3-year-olds can take on older horses. A foreign-based horse may be invited too.

Trotters vs pacers: how to tell them apart

All of Saturday's horses are Standardbreds, and the standard distance is one mile, started from behind a moving gate. Drivers sit in a light two-wheeled cart called a sulky. The horses race at one of two gaits, and trotters and pacers normally race in separate events. Mixed races are rare exceptions, and none of Saturday's stakes is one.

A quick trick for the couch: watch the front and hind leg on the side nearest the camera. If they swing forward together, it's a pacer.

Pacers are generally a little faster over a mile. Either way, New Jersey's rule says that when a horse breaks into a gallop, the driver must take it to the outside where there is clearance, pull it back to its gait, and lose ground by the break. Judges can set the horse back in the order of finish if that isn't done. That is why a 'break' can sink even a heavy favorite.

New to the vocabulary? Our glossary and breeds pages cover the basics.

How the Dan Patch awards are voted

The Dan Patch Awards are harness racing's year-end honors in the United States, run by the U.S. Harness Writers Association (USHWA). They are decided by ballot, not by a points table. The horse awards are voted by USHWA members together with members of the American Harness Racing Secretaries.

Here is how it worked last season:

1. Voters named a champion in 12 divisions: 2-year-old, 3-year-old and older, male and female, on each gait.
2. The divisional winners were announced in December. Last year 133 ballots were returned.
3. Trotter of the Year, Pacer of the Year and Horse of the Year were kept secret until the Dan Patch banquet in February.

That is why Saturday carries so much weight. It is the last major stakes night voters will see before they fill out ballots, and both Super Chapter and Twin B Joe Fresh were divisional champions last year.

It also explains why nobody can truly 'clinch' anything on the track. A win shapes the argument; the ballots settle it.

What to watch next

• Saturday, 6:20 p.m. ET: first race. Stakes begin with race 4 at 7:35 p.m.
• 8:00 p.m.: On To Norway vs Super Chapter. Watch the start: both of On To Norway's July wins over his rival came by a neck.
• 8:25 p.m.: Twin B Joe Fresh's scheduled farewell.
• 9:20 to 10:35 p.m.: the Fall Final Four, where next year's 3-year-old stars audition.
• After the card: look for late scratches and official charts before trusting any result you see on social media.
• December and beyond: Dan Patch divisional winners, then the top three awards at the banquet. USHWA announced on November 11 that the banquet will be held on Sunday, February 21, 2027, at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida. We had not seen a date for this season's divisional announcement when we published.

For more Standardbred news, read about Beau Jangles' record $3.7 million sale or browse everything on trends.