Where Have All the Racetracks Gone?

[maryforney]

Bay Meadows closed for good last summer, leaving Northern California with only one major Thoroughbred racing venue -- Golden Gate Fields.
There is a real possibility that Hollywood Park will close its doors for good in the near future.
Gone now are Garden State Park, Hialeah Park, Longacres, Washington Park Race Track...just to name a few. (See more here) (http://maryforney.blogspot.com/2009/01/where-have-all-racetracks-gone.html)
These are certainly not the first great Thoroughbred racetracks to disappear and aren't likely to be the last.

Of the many tracks that have disappeared over the years, which do you miss the most?

[GaryG]

Hialeah....nothing else is even close

[CincyHorseplayer]

Somebody had a video-doc about Hialeah on here a while back and I've seen pictures of what the place looked like in it's heyday.Hard to imagine such an awesome looking place with it's signature Flamingos being defunct.

[sandpit]

Interesting fact: the Flamingos that are in the infield at Hollywood Park came from Hialeah.

[BombsAway Bob]

The Marshfield Fair & Rockingham Park.
Marshfield was the last of the "bet/cash window" fairs, while "THE ROCK" had Friday Night Racing and a great turf course the last few years it ran flats..

[maryforney]

I saw some photos taken by a racing fan who "snuck in" to Hialeah recently, and was amazed at how stately and beautiful it must have been. It looks like a southern plantation falling into disrepair. Fascinating and so sad at the same time. The old statue of Citation was still there, and the gorgeous stone stairways and arches were covered with flowering vines gone wild. GaryG -- no wonder it's your favorite!

[ezrabrooks]

.....Long time passing... (for Toe)

Ez

[twindouble]

Well, I think we should brace ourselves for more closing this year. Suffolk Downs for one. They got shot down for slots. Mass will end up with no horse racing or dog racing. I think I'll sell and move to New York.


T.D.

[jfb]

I am sorry to see the Northern California track Bay Meadows go. Seabiscuit raced there. He won the Bay Meadows Handicap twice, the World Fair Handiicap and the Bay Bridge Handicap.

Northern Californians condsidered him as their own (even though Santa Anita put up his statue). Not that it has anything to do with this thread, but in many of The Three Stooges episodes, Curly mentions Seabiscuit.

[Track Collector]

Mary,

Great article!! :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp:

BombsawayBob,

Lets not forget Northampton Fair (the best fair racetrack IMO) and Great Barrington Fair! BTW, I never had the chance to visit Marshfield Fair before they stopped racing. I was in MA in 1991 on vacation with plans to attend, but Hurricane David? knocked out power at the fairgrounds and that was it for racing there.:(

[lamboguy]

you guys missed a few fair meets in mass. like the weymouth and brockton fair's. the brockton fair actually had a meet about 5 years ago. i remember because they needed 10 jocks on the grounds, and only had 9. but i knew of one that happened to be in jail that didn't have bail money. i went to work on it at 9:00 pm the night before. i had to go to 5 different jails to find him, i finally found him @ 4:30 a.m. the bail was $2500 and they didn't accept cash!

i asked to if they would take money orders from the 7-11. they said no. i had to wake up mr. carney and he called the governor and they wound up taking the money orders.

i had the guy showered and shaved and he rode and won the first race there!!

[BUD]

you guys missed a few fair meets in mass. like the weymouth and brockton fair's. the brockton fair actually had a meet about 5 years ago. i remember because they needed 10 jocks on the grounds, and only had 9. but i knew of one that happened to be in jail that didn't have bail money. i went to work on it at 9:00 pm the night before. i had to go to 5 different jails to find him, i finally found him @ 4:30 a.m. the bail was $2500 and they didn't accept cash!

i asked to if they would take money orders from the 7-11. they said no. i had to wake up mr. carney and he called the governor and they wound up taking the money orders.

i had the guy showered and shaved and he rode and won the first race there!!

I remember that one--DO you know how many rules were bent broke and utterly ignored..

Wow..You started that..haha---That is classic!!

[cj's dad]

I was not a racing fan when Bowie was running, but I have heard many tales from those that were there what a fun time was had taking the B&O RR to Bowie and back and watching the races live.

Would like to hear comments from those who may have made the trip and/or been there.

[GaryG]

In the 50s the "spring" racing season usually started with Bowie. As I remember they kept moving the opening date up. I was there with my dad in 1956 when they opened around Feb 15. Snowed like hell, I can't remember if they ran the whole card. Now we have year round racing in cold weather areas....just nuts. Bowie was a deep, slow track i believe.

[lamboguy]

you hit upon a good point. the racing meets are to long. there should not be a meet longer than 4 months. i know they claim the meets are not that long, but they still run on the same track. like aqueduct has the inner and the outer track so they have 3 meets on the same site. when the racetracks were getting along somewhat with each other aqueduct was supposed to stop running while the gulfstream meet went on. it never happened.

[startngate]

Ak-Sar-Ben was my favorite ... it was a shame to see it go.

[Bruddah]

Ak-sar-ben was a beautiful family oriented track. They had pony rides and a playground for children, with clowns. Many families attended on the weekends. In the 60's-70's-80's they had high quality competitive racing, with top nation wide trainers and outfits. Remember when Jack Vanberg was the King and head quartered just outside Omaha? Sadly, when he left to race on the west coast it started going down hill. The property became so valuable and stratejically located, the powers to be in Omaha deliberately scuttled the meeting and track. :(

[strapper]

I do wish I would've been able to attend just one live card there when it was in its heyday!

I saw some photos taken by a racing fan who "snuck in" to Hialeah recently, and was amazed at how stately and beautiful it must have been. It looks like a southern plantation falling into disrepair. Fascinating and so sad at the same time. The old statue of Citation was still there, and the gorgeous stone stairways and arches were covered with flowering vines gone wild. GaryG -- no wonder it's your favorite!

[MIplayer]

In Michigan, Detroit Race Course and more recently, Great Lakes Downs. On top of that a bunch of harness tracks, both parimutuel and fair.

I think when we lose these tracks they can't necessarily be replaced by newer facilities. These tracks hold the traditions and memories of this sport. Why people would rather watch lawnmower racing at a fair then horse racing beats me. I would be curious to know just how many... hundreds? of racetracks (including non-parimutuel fairs, bullrings, harness etc.) have closed in the past few decades.

[jimmy m]

To me easy question,Hialeh bar none.I watch Let it ride with Richard Dreyfuss at least 3 or 4 times a year since all the racing scenes were shot there.Great Lakes Downs as well since that is where i called my first race.Jimmy filling for Hook.

[jballscalls]

For me its Longacres no contest. Such a beautiful track with a great history and so many memories of childhood for me. The last race they ever ran there, announcer Gary Henson said as they were going in the gate "Ladies and gentleman, these are your horses, enjoy their thunder"

He flipped off the switch and let the race be run silent. We all ran out onto the track and took home some of the dirt from course.

[Hajck Hillstrom]

...and raised in the Yakima Valley....

....I would have to say.....

.....wait for it......

........

...Agua Caliente!

Wild and crazy times were had in Tiajuana. William Murray got it right...the hermaphrodites were the calming influence in that town.

...but when I return home and see the decaying grandstand at Yakima Meadows, it just further illustrates the path that Longacres and Playfair were forced to take with Washington State racing.

[juanepstein]

http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/pan/6a28000/6a28500/6a28591r.jpg
SANTA ANITA 1908

looks like the fairplex grandstand is modeled after this one.

http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/pan/6a28000/6a28400/6a28402r.jpg


http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/pan/6a28000/6a28400/6a28410r.jpg

[juanepstein]

heres where you can find alot of sweet horse racing photos.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?ils:2:./temp/~pp_nA2O::@@@mdb=fsaall,app,brum,detr,swann,look,g ottscho,pan,horyd,genthe,var,cai,cd,hh,yan,lomax,i ls,prok,brhc,nclc,matpc,iucpub,tgmi,lamb,hec


at the bottom click

grandstands
racetracks
horseracing

one thing you will notice in these pictures- NO POLY!!!!

[Shemp Howard]

Boston Downs..weather clear/track fast. Whopper 2-1

Who's at the 1/4 pole?...Whopper

Who's at the half?...Whopper

Who's in the stretch?....Whopper


Who's the winner?....Rosemont!


or

the birds are singing, the flowers blooming....and Seabisquit is doing 6 furlongs in 1:10 flat

[Shemp Howard]

Took the Special from 30th Street Station in Philly until it stopped and then the Trailways bus in the 60's and 70's. Never forget the cigar smoke, the knock rummy games on the way down and the fact that the grandstand faced the sun!

On the bus, half the patrons were Chinamen. Let Tommie Lee win the 9th and the ride home was a party!!!!!!!!

:( :(