This is the seventh of a major series of articles concerning racetracks in the USA continuing a review of USA racetracks looking at closed venues in the state of Maine.
Maine – closed tracks
Gorham Raceway –
This half mile track operated between 1945 and its closure date in 1967. Route 112 cuts through Gorham Raceway which is now the home of soccer fields.
Lewiston (LEW)
Lewiston Raceway’s half mile track was located halfway between Portland and Augusta. The town of Lewiston is known for hosting the heavyweight boxing title fight between Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) and Sonny Liston in 1965.
The track had a glass enclosed grandstand seating 5,000 with parking for 2,000 cars. It featured a split meeting, one in February and one in October.
On 9 May 1980 seven horses died in a barn fire at the track. Lewiston raced for minimal purses although it received a boost in 1987 when Foxboro Raceway closed suddenly leaving Eastern New England with limited harness racing. Running the annual Pooler Memorial, a race that eventually valued at $30,000. On 5 April 1987 the track held the North American Driving Championship Day that attracted top drivers to the raceway where record betting of $327,000 was transacted. Out To Score driven by K.Switzer held the track’s pacing record of 1:55.2 set in 1989.
Lewiston’s last race date was 17 December 1989 after losing a bitter battle with Scarborough Down over race dates. Biscayne Lobell won the final event at the Raceway. Another barn fire claimed ten horses on 26 March 1990. Later in the early 1990’s Lewiston raceway was granted an Off Track Betting license with the OTB occupying a small space at the original Raceway site.
Old Orchard Beach –
Old Orchard Beach was one of the most famous oval mile kite tracks originally built in 1892 operating over a period covering almost sixty years.
Harness racing was still using high wheel sulkies at the turn of the century, when horsemen decided the best way to increase race speed was to build a better track. The kite track had several configurations with the most popular being a kind of “figure 8” with one big loop and one small loop. Horses “scored” by the judge’s stand for a fair start where with the kite track they scored around the small loop, got the word “GO” at the cross and raced the mile around the big loop with just one turn.
Millard F. Porter conceived the idea of building a mile racetrack in the marshland off Portland Avenue close to the main tourist drag. Forming the Breeder Mile Track Association with other local hotel owners and businessmen they constructed a kite shaped racetrack on hard clay. The horsemen competing here called it the fastest track in the world. A quasi legal form of betting took place in hotels and at the track but enthusiasm and attendance waned with the kite track becoming idle by 1907.
In 1936 the kite track reopened after its colourful first life with a group led by Fred Snow resurfacing the track with hundreds of tons of clay and opening with pari-mutual betting. Old Orchard Beach (OOB) became a stop on the Grand Circuit (1936 – 1949) featuring the fastest horses in the country playing host to the “Hambletonian Preview Stakes” each year in July with racing under lights from 1949. Horses arrived by train at the Old Orchard Beach freight station and were walked to the racetrack.
The track produced some of the fastest miles of the era playing host to the likes of Billy Direct, Dillon Hall (2:00.0, 4yo pacing record, 31 July 1936), Nibble Hanover, Kings Counsel (2:01¼, fastest NA 2yo pacer of 1942; 21 July), Adios, Cardinal Prince (1:58¾, fastest NA pacer of 1936; 31 July, all age OOB pacing record as aged pacer), Dominion Grattan and the great trotter Greyhound, who registered the fastest mile ever raced there (trot or pace), T1:57½TT (fastest trotter of 1939; all age OOB trotting record as aged trotter) on 27 July 1939.
Adios had his inaugural race as a two year old on the kite track at Old Orchard Beach in the three heat $5,000 N.T. Fox Stake (21 July 1942). “He flashed under the wire in 2:02½ – just a half second from tying the world’s record for a two year old which had been set by His Majesty in 1932” (2:02.0, 7 Sept 1932, Indiana State Fairgrounds), from “Adios : The Big Daddy of Harness Racing”. Among race rivals was Kings Counsel with the two rivals to meet on many different tracks engaging in numerous fiercely contested heats over the following years. In the second heat Adios led until a few feet from the finish with Kings Counsel winning in 2:01¼ breaking His Majesty’s 2yo race mile record set ten years earlier (see above). The third heat again saw Kings Counsel triumphant in 2:08.0 to win the three heat Fox Stake.
Among major races contested on the Old Orchard Beach track during 1930’s/1940’s were National & American Stakes (2&3yo pacers/trotters); Goldsmith Maid – Open Trot; Grand Circuit FFA’s (pacers/trotters) and in 1939 Messenger – Open Trot.
Racing ceased on 3 July 1950 with the grandstand and other buildings razed before the famous track was recaptured by nature as marshland. In 1952 the State of Maine purchased the site just off Walnut Street and East Grand Avenue which has since become a game preserve. In 1975 the Wildlife Department bought a 600 acre tract including the racetrack with the intention of maintaining it as a wildlife management area.
Rigby Park, South Portland –
The one mile Rigby Park track in South Portland, Cumberland County, operating from 1983 – 1899, located between what is now the modern day areas of Rigby Yard and Wainwright Fields, was known as the fastest track in eastern USA which was due to its peat bog foundation. Rigby Park has now been lost to an industrial park.
Rigby Park was the western terminus for the early South Portland trolley cars which extended through Pleasantdale, over Lincoln Street to Main Street and to Rigby Road and thence to the park. The new electrical road had begun at Willard Beach. Rigby Park was the site of the 1896 New England Fair and several more years before financial difficulties brought about its closure. In the 1920s the park was purchased by the Portland Terminal Company (Maine Central Railroad) becoming the Rigby Railway Yard facility.
Rigby Trotting Park – 1895.
The one mile track was considered the fastest track east of the Mississippi in part due to it being one mile as opposed to the popular half mile ovals. Track design and construction was undertaken by Seth Griffin whose construction technique included laying turf squares on their sides in the bed, with loam spread over the top, providing a soft and springy surface.
Opening on 3 October 1893 Rigby Park experienced financial difficulties throughout most of its years of operation. Annual deficits were funded by several Maine businesspeople including George Burnham Jr President of the Burnham & Morrill Company (B & M). To boost revenue at the track, Rigby Park hosted the New England Fair but the agricultural fairs revenues did not change the tracks financial position. The lack of attendance by a public that did not condone gambling and the sale of alcohol at the park contributed to these financial issues.
The track closed in 1899 after its final races, being permanently boarded up in 1900. Various buildings, stables and an impressive grandstand were demolished in 1903. Today the site has reverted to a boggy, wooded state but due to the shape of the land and the different vegetation growth over the track, it is still possible to see satellite images where the track was located.
Famous horses to have raced at Rigby Park include –
John R. Gentry – 24 September 1896 established a pacers mile record time of 2:00½TT, also fastest pacer of year. A year later his record was broken when Star Pointer paced the first sub two minute mile in 1:59¼TT at Readville.
Nelson, 4209 (1882-1909; Young Rolfe/Gretchen), the racehorse – the only Maine bred/trained horse inducted into the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in 1994. His controversial owner/trainer/driver throughout his career, disgraced and later redeemed was Charles Horace Nelson (1843 to 1915) of Waterville, Maine. Having been suspended by the National Totting Association (NTA), Nelson applied for and gained membership of the American Trotting Association. His ATA membership was subject to great debate among NTA directors with speculation that a powerful NTA member influenced the decisions made by the NTA regarding the Nelson-Alcryon Case.
Nelson as a three year old in 1885, trotted T2:26¾ on the half mile track at Lewiston. In 1889 on the Grand Circuit in Buffalo he won a $5,000 stake by trotting three consecutive heats T2:15, T2:17¼ and T2:15. In an exhibition mile at Bangor on 6 September 1890, he set a world record of T2:15¼ on a half mile track. In a series of races in September and October 1890 Nelson and his horse set the world’s stallion record of T2:10¾ on a regulation oval mile track using a high wheel sulky. Nelson 4209, the ”Northern King”, was The King of Stallions. At Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1891, he trotted a T2:10 mile over a regulation track hooked to a high-wheel sulky.
In November 1891 the Waterville Sentinel reported in November 1891 that Charles Nelson had completed all necessary land negotiations to allow work to begin on a mile track in Waterville, Maine. By the end of the month, the Sentinel reported Nelson had abandoned his Waterville mile track, learning that the City of Waterville planned to build a road through the centre of his proposed track. Nelson became a member of the Maine Mile Track Association and instead invested his money in the building of Rigby Park located in South Portland, Maine.
Early in the summer of 1893, Nelson took his stallion to the Moosepath Trotting Park in St. John, New Brunswick where Nelson 4209 broke the track record with his best time of T2.07¾. This time remained Moosepath’s track record for more than ten years although it was never published in the United States. Nelson set his career record using a low wheel bike at Rigby Park, South Portland on 12 August 1893, recording T2:09.0.
O 11 October 1894 Nelson 4209’s last significant competitive race was against five-year old Directum when aged twelve. Directum won all three heats, in the third, Directum was so far ahead that Charles Nelson allowed Nelson 4209 to slowly trot to the finish line. Nelson 4209 was likely driven at exhibitions from this point onwards.
Charles Nelson’s breeding exploits included :
Sunnyside Farm a trotting horse stock farm owned by Charles Horace Nelson from 1882 until his death in 1915. The fine residence with three horse barns was formerly located between Nelson Street and Carver Street off Kennedy Memorial Drive (formerly the Oakland Road) in Waterville, Maine. The property known as Nelson Farm was owned by Fred Hallett in the 1930’s into the 1940’s. A large barn sited to the right of the residence was converted into a garage. Sunnyside Farm was home to champion trotting stallion Nelson 4209, the last horse to hold the world high wheel trotting record. Nelson 4209 died at Sunnyside Farm, Waterville on 4 December 1909 aged 27 years.
At some point between 1889 and 1893, Charles Nelson partnered with Samuel Currier of Hallowell in opening Pine Grove Stock Farm. The farm was once owned by Benjamin Vaughan and Governor Joseph Bodwell. Newspaper advertisements and catalogues indicate that Nelson and Currier operated the farm between 1893 and 1897. Around 1900 the farm was sold back to the Vaughan family with William Vaughan operating it for one year.
After 1894 Nelson continued breeding and selling horses with Nelson 4209 still in stud service. Newspaper advertisements in the early 1900s offered Nelson’s stallions for service. Newspaper articles spoke of Nelson’s continued reputation as a horseman and excellent judge of horseflesh. He never did breed another horse of Nelson 4209’s quality having earlier sold his dam Young Rolfe although he attempted to buy her back without success. Alas the mare died being pushed too hard by his driver on a track out of state.
Scarborough Downs (SCA) –
Scarborough Downs was a half mile harness racing track located eight miles from Portland and only minutes away from Old Orchard Beach. Beginning operations on 1 July 1950 opening for thoroughbred racing on a one mile oval, 1,054 ft straight with six furlong and 1¼m chutes. The property consisting mainly of marshland was originally purchased for $600 by track developers Robert Verrier and Fred Snow. They intended to take advantage of the beach trade and the novelty of racing under lights in the 1950’s. Fighting Fool in the hands of jockey Alfredo Montiero was the first thoroughbred to win in Maine.
Thoroughbred racing costs became prohibitive with the 4 September 1972 Labour Day meeting marking the last thoroughbred card at Scarborough Downs. Harness racing had commenced there on 12 May 1969 and a new half mile, 440ft straight harness only track was completed opening on 28 May 1973. The track designed by Charles Coon and Sons father of track designer Daniel Coon, drawing rave reviews from horsemen throughout its history.
Scarborough Downs boasted a glass enclosed grandstand albeit somewhat rundown and a clubhouse that was rebuilt after being destroyed in a pre-dawn fire on 12 December 1983. The new clubhouse opened in time for the new season on 5 June 1985 included a second storey restaurant “The Downs Club”. It seated 1,050, the grandstand 4,000 during live day time racing and year round simulcasting. It included two track side lounges as well as a VIP Room.
The stables could accommodate 800 horses and there was parking for 15,000 cars. Scarborough Downs used to hold the first Maine Sire Stakes races in July and hosted the two and three year finals for pacing/trotting colts and fillies in October. Another feature race in earlier years was the Presidents Pace.
A track record 9,133 fans attended racing on 29 June 1980 getting autographs from “The Incredible Hulk” actor Lou Ferrigno. Three months later on 30 September 1980 eleven horses perished in a pre-dawn fire caused by an overloaded electrical box in a tack room destroying a 240 ft barn. Another fire killed three horses and destroyed two barns in June 1982. The holiday crowd on 6 September 1987 bet a record on course turnover of $507,649.
Track owner Joseph Ricci introduced simulcast betting in the 2000’s from North American thoroughbred and standardbred tracks. In 2003 Scarborough voters turned down slot machines in a referendum while after sweetening the deal they again said no to slots in 2008. Scarborough Downs gained slot approval in nearby Biddeford in 2010 only to have the state wide approval required rejected by voters in 2011.
Scarborough Downs increased its stakes in 2012 thanks to a revenue sharing plan with the racino in Bangor. However financial challenges heightened by the COVID 19 pandemic were amongst the reasons for the tracks closure to harness racing on 30 November 2020. Earlier, Scarborough Downs and an adjoining 500 acres of land plus buildings were sold to Crossroads Holdings in 2018 for $6.7 million. They planned to invest more than $20m in infrastructure improvements to the property where a town centre with retail and commercial entities, along with housing and other facilities would be located. ‘The Downs’ property surrounding the historic Scarborough Downs provides life-work-play opportunities on a 524 acre mixed use community area.
Scarborough Downs remained open for simulcasting throughout 2020 while the Maine Harness Racing Commission granted them a license to commence operating as an off-track betting facility beginning in January 2021. Maine Health announced the former harness racing tracks owner, Crossroads Holdings were donating the facility’s indoor grandstand for use as a COVID 19 mass vaccination site for six months. The aging 30,000 square foot grandstand needed to be renovated to bring it up to code compliance. The goal was to administer 1,000 doses per day depending on the availability of vaccine supplies in Maine.
Live racing –
First Tracks Cumberland –
After harness racing closure at Scarborough Downs, thanks to an agreement with developer Mike Cianchette, great-nephew of former Bangor and Lewiston Track Owner Bud Cianchette, racing moved to Cumberland Fairgrounds which has long held meetings before (established 1868) in 2021. First Tracks LLC got state approval and a racing license on 8 February 2021.The 2021 season at Cumberland ran from 8 May – 31 July (56 race days) and again from 3 November – 31 December including the 2021 fair. The expectation was that Cumberland would be full-time horse racing in 2022.
The state of Maine has a lengthy history of agricultural fairs and harness racing, dating back to the early nineteenth century. The very first Cumberland Fair was held in October 1868 with a 1/3 mile track laid out and constructed a few years later. Previous to the track being built, farmers raced each other down Main Street. In 1938 a new grandstand was constructed and plans for a clay racetrack were approved in 1941. In 1948 night time harness racing commenced when lights were installed around the historic oval. This year marks the 154th season of harness racing in Cumberland, Maine.
In 2022, the racing season at First Tracks Cumberland will include a Winter Festival planned for 11 November – 31 December 2022, racing Fridays/Saturdays in November and Tuesday, Friday and Saturday in December.
Next Article : Maryland part one/live tracks
Peter Craig
7 September 2022
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
