This is the second of a major series of articles concerning racetracks in the USA. We continue our review of USA racetracks with a further three states in which tracks are now closed :
Georgia –
Lakewood Park was located south of Atlanta in Lakewood, north of the eastern arm of Langford Parkway, formerly Lakewood Freeway. The Lakewood Fairgrounds have had many lives, in 1893 it served as Atlanta’s first waterworks, became a summer resort and music venue in 1895 then becoming Southeastern Fair site from 1916-1975.
In 1916, Atlanta officials chose the Lakewood Fairgrounds as the site for agricultural fairs and built a one-mile (1.6 km) horse racing track around a lake at the fairgrounds. The first events held at the track there on 4 July 1917. The events featured a horse race and motorcycle race before 23,000 spectators. The first automobile race was held at the track later that year featuring Barney Oldfield in a match race against Ralph DePalma which attracted 15,000 spectators. The now defunct one mile harness track hosted Grand Circuit racing from 1916 to 1928.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) held car racing events during fairs and the American Automobile Association (AAA)/USAC held an annual event on 4 July. By 1938, Lakewood Speedway was hosting races with champ cars, horses, midgets, modifieds, motorcycles, and boats (in the infield lake). The Atlanta States Racing Association, Central States Auto Racing Association, Gulf States Automobile Association, International Stock Car Racing Association, and Motor Internationale Association all sanctioned events at the track. The track closed in 1941 like all United States racetracks because the U.S. government banned all automobile racing to conserve materials during World War II. Racing resumed after the war with Lakewood becoming the premier track on the National Stock Car Racing Association circuit. Following the NSCRA’s cessation, NASCAR held its first race at the track in 1951, holding eleven Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) and two Convertible division races in the 1950s. Lakewood Speedway became the Indianapolis of the South, the largest stock car racing track in Southern USA holding an annual race of Indy cars until the late nineteen seventies.
The only track on which harness racing is now contested in Georgia is at the Hawkinville County Fair, Hawkinville where nine day’s of racing were held during April 2022.
Kansas-
The Cowley County Fairgrounds in Winfield boasted a half mile dirt track, originally laid out in the summer of 1872 being used for horse racing off and on from the autumn of that year. In the summer of 1883 the corners were dredged out near the inside of the track to give the effect of a slight banking to the turns making the racetrack into a “dish” oval. The size, shape, and location of the track was not altered but flood sediment filled in some of the original dish bringing the surface up almost to ground level. The original grandstand built between 1885 and 1888 catered for 3,200 patrons.
Being located a couple of hundred yards east and north of the Walnut River and outside the levee protecting the city of Winfield the track often flooded. A very narrow track being only 40 feet wide except for the front straight which was 80 feet wide made passing difficult. The surface was mostly silt that did not pack down too well so the racing surface for cars has always been very rough and dusty. The earliest known automobile race run in Cowley County, Kansas took place on Labor Day, 4 September 1905 on a half-mile racetrack in Athletic Park on the east bank of the Arkansas River on the west side of Arkansas City, Kansas. Auto racing ceased in 1971.
Winfield hosted a major horse race meet each summer with automobile racing added as a last day attraction to both those and to the Cowley County Fair each autumn. The increased crowds they helped generate in 1927 prompted the City of Winfield to construct a larger new grandstand which was completed in July 1928 at a cost of $35,000 with a capacity for 5,000.
The original grandstand was torn down in early 1928 with the lumber used to build horse and dairy barns on the fairgrounds to the northwest of the grandstand site.
Jackson County Fair, Holton
The first county fair was held from 30 September 30 to 2 October 1873 on grounds west of Holton. The fair has been held at this same location since then at the NE Kansas Heritage Complex. Holton is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Kansas. As is shown in the flyer for the 1878 show below, harness racing made an early appearance on the half mile track at the Jackson County Fair. It is not known when harness racing ceased at the Jackson County Fair. The 2022 edition is currently underway : 8-29 July.
New Hampshire –
New Hampshire is officially a non-racing state with harness racing venues at Rockingham Park and Hinsdale Raceway’s having been demolished, leaving no sign that pari-mutual horse racing ever existed in the Granite State. Greyhound racing was banned in 2010 but the two dog tracks in the state remain standing – Belmont is now a semi casino featuring poker while the track at Seabrook has been remodelled into a poker and simulcast centre, the only place to bet on horseracing in the state.
Hinsdale
Hinsdale Raceway was tucked away in the southwest corner of New Hampshire, a few miles from both the Vermont and Massachusetts borders and one hour north of Springfield, Massachusetts. Many of the horses and drivers were locals racing for minimal purses with the occasional outside stable shipping into the track. The glass enclosed grandstand and clubhouse held 3,500 and 2,500 respectively. The clubhouse including an excellent if small restaurant, with parking for 4,000 cars while the stables accommodated 800 horses.
Opening night at Hinsdale Raceway (track abbrev : Hin) was Thursday 14 August 1958 when Stormy Spirit with Freeman Libby in the sulky ambled home in 2:18 winning the first race.
In 1958 Hinsdale Raceway was the only game in town, cornering the market in Western Massachusetts, down to Hartford Connecticut. In 1963 Green Mountain Park (standardbreds and thoroughbreds) opened in Vermont providing competition to Hinsdale although it remained a popular destination through the sixties. A betting record of $349,003 was set on 7 September 1967 while the attendance record of 10,326 fans was established on 6 August 1972. Greyhound racing was added in 1973 making for year round racing. However whilst greyhound racing increased in popularity, harness racing interest waned with dog racing dates increasing and harness dates declining until harness racing ceased in 1985.
In presenting its final card on Sunday 28 July 1985 Hinsdale Raceway went out in style with the days programme including the second running of the New Hampshire Sweepstakes Gold Cup for a purse of $50,000. Included amongst a nice group of pacers was one of the best pacers around in Falcon Seelster who probably ran the worst race of his career, drawing the outside barrier eight on the tight half mile track, parked out most of the way finishing sixth. The final race on the Sunday afternoon card, driver Wendell Donaway guided K C Three to the winners circle for the final winner’s photo at Hinsdale Raceway.
Hinsdale Raceway became exclusive for greyhound racing the following season with the track name changed to Hinsdale Greyhound Park and OTB, legally known as Hinsdale Greyhound Racing Association, Inc with simulcasting added when it became legal in New Hampshire. The track operated for almost another twenty five years although the dogs were on the decline. On Monday morning 15 December 2008, workers and patrons eager to cash their previous day’s tickets (final meeting Sunday 14 December 2008) were greeted by a padlocked race track. Hinsdale had closed abruptly with the track owner throwing everybody’s money in the back of his Cadillac and departing the scene.
Michael Bentley, an attorney representing Hinsdale Real Estate Development LLC, purchased the land a year prior to the racetrack filing for bankruptcy in 2008. The limited liability company was co-owned by Joseph Sullivan and Carl Thomas until Thomas purchased Sullivan’s interest, Thomas not having anything to do with the operation of the racetrack. The racetrack closed and filed for bankruptcy because it ran out of money, with its license due to expire at the end of 2008 and not being renewed.
The “Monitor” reported the racetrack filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy meaning a business has decided to sell its assets and use the money to pay off creditors. At December 2008 the racetrack owed money to between 200 and 999 people or organizations. The business at the time of the bankruptcy filing owed $4,500 to the state, $189,257 to the Internal Revenue Service, $131,800 in town property taxes and $6,600 in other local tax expenses.
Karey Tyler, the owner of Tyler Excavation Inc., was tasked with demolishing the grandstand and all surrounding structures. Starting on 12 November 2013, the grandstand was a shell of its former self, rife with graffiti and filled with broken glass and other material. There were Samuel Adams beer coasters among the debris and race ticket stubs from as far back as 1976. Tyler said people had caused a good deal of damage to the inside of the structure.
Today the track sits abandoned and deteriorating, waiting for someone to put it out of its misery. In 2015, Hinsdale Raceway was a pile of rocks, the structure had been torn down and hauled off, but the foundation was pulverized and was sitting there in small piles. In March 2015 William Faucher, a Hinsdale resident and long-time horseman opened an Off Track Betting (OTB) facility near the old track. One of the stipulations imposed by the New Hampshire Racing Commission was that Faucher must construct a track within three years. This did not eventuate.
The half mile oval (512 feet straight) Hinsdale track is dead, the horse stable area now a Super Walmart, the dog kennel area a Tractor Supply with the grandstand and track area awaiting development.
Rockingham Park
Rockingham Park was located near the Salem train depot, about 32 miles from Boston, Massachusetts. The original track had a one mile dirt oval, with an inner half mile harness track featuring a glass enclosed grandstand seating 9,000 and clubhouse seating 4,000 with 500 seats in the dining room. Parking available for 25,000 cars and stables to accommodate 1,125 horses.
Opening on 28 June 1906 for twenty one days of thoroughbred racing and wagering at a time when wagering was illegal in New Hampshire. A crowd of over 10,000 people from as far away as New York City descended on the small New Hampshire township to attend what were in effect illegal races. . Rave reviews proclaimed the site “the finest racecourse in the world”. Betting prevailed for three days before the law “the Pinkertons” intervened and shut down wagering. The loss of betting meant a lack of interest in racing for the reminder of the meeting and another “thoroughbred” meet was never scheduled as racing went dormant for over twenty five years. Some harness racing appears to have taken place in 1912 and 1913. There was also a fair meet that was run at The Rochester Fair for harness horses each year but that has long passed into history.
During the idle years a number of other events were hosted by Rockingham Park –
- first aviation meet in northern New England in 1911 when Lieutenant Milling set a new altitude record of 1,600 feet (490 m) in his biplane
- served as the base for the 14th US Army Corps of Engineers during World War I. The racecourse served as a bivouac for soldiers prior to voyages to France.
- motor racing – 100 mile race held on 4 July 1925; motorcycle races held; 1.25 mile board track installed on which L. “Curly” Fredericks, on an Altoona, set the record for the fastest speed of 120.3 miles per hour/193.6 km per hr for a motorcycle on an oval board track; In 1928, the track held the final motorcycle national championships to be competed on a board track, due to the rotting wood which was removed; 1929 Labor Day and Columbus Day auto races held on the restored dirt track drawing 45,000 and 52,000 spectators respectively
New owner Lou Smith convinced lawmakers in the state legislature to legalise pari-mutual racing/betting which they did on 23 April 1933 as a means of generating revenue at the time of the Great Depression. Rockingham Park reopened on 21 June 1933 with betting permitted operating as a thoroughbred and standardbred (1933 – 1935) racing venue. It was where the great trotter Greyhound won his first race in 1933. During Smith’s thirty six year tenure, track revenues on average made up 20 percent of the state’s general fund appropriations.
Traditionally a thoroughbred venue, spring and autumn harness race meetings were added in 1958 on a half mile track including the Atlantic Seaboard Circuit races to compliment the summer race meeting. The record attendance on 23 March 1962 during this period was 17,230 while the betting record was attained on 8 April 1968, $725,964. Rockingham Park reigned supreme in New England racing until 29 July 1980. A devastating blaze destroyed the grandstand while training was taking place on at the track. The fire caused the grandstand to be levelled and the clubhouse heavily damaged. The remainder of the meetings were cancelled and it would be four long years before racing returned.
During this time the owners sold to Rockingham Venture who built a new state of the art red roofed grandstand facility seating 5,000, tastefully built into the old clubhouse that was still in use with a total capacity listed at 20,000. Harness racing was gone for the time being as Rockingham was now committed exclusively to thoroughbreds. The “New Rock” had the same one mile dirt oval, but replaced the inner harness track with a 7/8 mile turf course. Parking was reduced to 5,000 cars as most of the old massive parking lot was now a mall (see below). The stable area was increased to 1,600 stalls and lighting was expanded to cover the mile track in anticipation of night racing.
The Rockingham Park track reopened on 26 May 1984 following its four year recess. In that time with the demise of thoroughbred racing in Rhode Island and Vermont, the Suffolk Downs track in East Boston, Massachusetts took up the mantle of premier course in the greater area. It meant that the glory days of racing at Rockingham Park never returned. It is somewhat ironic that Suffolk Downs was sold in 2017 (last raced 30 June 2019) to a developer who plans to create a housing and shopping district.
In 1991, the Mall at Rockingham Park, currently the largest mall in northern New England, was constructed adjacent to the racetrack. Owned and managed by Simon Property Group and not affiliated with the racetrack.
Thoroughbred racing ceased at Rockingham Park in 2002 while in 2003 harness racing returned for a short Memorial Day to Labor Day two month run utilising the one mile oval and even conducting the occasional race on the turf track. Alas harness racing was discontinued after the 2009 season when the state cut the Racing Commission’s regulatory funding. Void of live racing Rockingham Park became a simulcast and charitable gaming facility.
On Wednesday 31 August 2016 Rockingham Park closed its doors forever leaving New Hampshire without a racetrack for the first time in one hundred and ten years. A month later all that remained was auctioned off and the property was sold for redevelopment. The racetrack was demolished in the summer of 2017 and was to be redeveloped as part of the Tuscan Plaza project.
Next Article : Rhode Island and Nebraska
Peter Craig
27 July 2022
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
