Horse Racetrack | |
---|---|
Cahokia Downs | |
Location | Alorton, Illinois United States |
Owner | East Saint Louis Jockey Club, Inc. |
Opened | 1954 |
Race type | Thoroughbred and Standardbred |
Website | |
Principal Races | |
St. Louis Derby | |
Cahokia Downs was an American horse racing track located on Highway 15 near the town of Alorton, St. Clair County, Illinois. Run by the East St. Louis Jockey Club, the facility opened in 1954 and hosted both Standardbred harness racing and Thoroughbred flat racing events.
At Cahokia Downs on October 18, 1978, jockey David Gall became the first rider in United States Thoroughbred horse racing to win eight races on a single racecard.[ citation needed ]
In October 1979 the Illinois Racing Commission refused to authorize any 1980 racing dates for Cahokia Downs and on April 2, 1980 the business filed for bankruptcy. The track never reopened.
The track consisted of a .75-mile (1.207 km) oval with sandy clay soil, with chutes that enabled 5-furlong (1.006 km) races to be run around one turn and about 11/16 miles (1.710 km) around three turns. Distance from the last turn to the finish line was 500 feet (152 m). The front and back straightaways were both 80 feet (24.38 m) wide. [1] The chute on the front straightaway was angled approximately 15 degrees to avoid bisecting a street in the stable area.
Coordinates: 38°34′31.6″N90°05′42.8″W / 38.575444°N 90.095222°W
Alorton was a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. Incorporated in 1944, it was one of three municipalities that merged to form the city of Cahokia Heights on May 6, 2021; the other two were the village of Cahokia and the city of Centreville. Prior to merger, Alorton had a population of 1,566 and land area of 1.8 square miles (4.7 km2) in the 2020 Census.
Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse racing facility in the northeastern United States, located in Elmont, New York, just east of the New York City limits. It was opened on May 4, 1905.
Woodbine Racetrack is a race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, Woodbine Racetrack manages and hosts Canada's most famous race, the King's Plate. The track was opened in 1956 with a one-mile oval dirt track, as well as a seven-eights turf course. It has been extensively remodeled since 1993, and since 1994 has had three racecourses.
Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track located on Union Avenue in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. Opened in 1863, it is often considered to be the oldest major sporting venue of any kind in the country, but is actually the fourth oldest racetrack in the US. In 1857 the Empire Race Course was opened on an island in the Hudson River near Albany, but was in operation only a short time.
Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was prominent in Kentucky for many years. The first Kentucky Derby, a Thoroughbred sweepstakes and part of today's horse racing Triple Crown, and the first Kentucky Oaks were held in the same year. Churchill Downs has also hosted the renowned Breeders' Cup on nine occasions, most recently on November 2 and 3, 2018.
In horse racing, a chute is an extended path increasing the length of a straight portion of a racecourse, particularly an oval-shaped one, allowing races of a specified distance to start at a location other than on one of the turns.
Calder Casino is a casino located in Miami Gardens, Florida. It includes slots, electronic table games, and bingo.
The Del Mar Fairgrounds is a 370-acre (1.5 km2) event venue in Del Mar, California. The annual San Diego County Fair is held here, which was called the Del Mar Fair from 1984 to 2001. In 1936, the Del Mar Racetrack was built by the Thoroughbred Club with founding member Bing Crosby providing leadership.
Ellis Park is a thoroughbred racetrack near Henderson, Kentucky, just south of Evansville, Indiana. It is owned and operated by Churchill Downs Incorporated. While the track is located north of the Ohio River that forms the border between Kentucky and Indiana, which would put it within Indiana, the border is based on the course of the river at the time Kentucky became a state in 1792.
Hawthorne Race Course is a racetrack for horse racing in Stickney/Cicero, Illinois, near Chicago.
Emerald Downs is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Auburn, Washington, located a half mile east of Highway 167. It is named after Seattle, the Emerald City.
Tampa Bay Downs is an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility located in Westchase in Hillsborough County in the U.S. state of Florida, just outside Tampa. It opened in 1926 under the name Tampa Downs, and has also been known as Sunshine Park and Florida Downs and Turf Club.
Delta Downs Racetrack, Casino and Hotel is an American thoroughbred and quarter horse racetrack in Calcasieu Parish, near Vinton, Louisiana in the southwest portion of the state. The facility is owned by Boyd Gaming.
Fair Grounds Race Course, often known as New Orleans Fair Grounds, is a thoroughbred racetrack and racino in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is operated by Churchill Downs Louisiana Horseracing Company, LLC.
Tom Durkin is a retired American sportscaster and public address announcer specializing in Thoroughbred horse racing. He was the race caller for NBC Sports from 1984 through 2010, and served as the announcer for the New York Racing Association from 1990 until his retirement in 2014. For his career-long dedication, he was awarded the Eclipse Award of Merit in January 2015.
The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is a 1-mile (1.6 km) Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up. As its name implies, it is part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the de facto year-end championship for North American thoroughbred racing, and is run on a dirt course. This contrasts with the similar Breeders' Cup Mile, run on grass. All Breeders' Cups to date have been conducted in the United States, with the exception of the 1996 event in Canada.
Epsom Downs is a Grade 1 racecourse on the hills associated with Epsom in Surrey, England which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. The "Downs" referred to in the name are part of the North Downs.
Fairmount Park Racetrack is a horse racing track in Collinsville, Illinois, a part of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The track hosts Thoroughbred flat racing. It is one of two horse racing venues currently active in Illinois, and the only one outside the Chicago, Illinois metro area. The track also featured Standardbred harness racing, but discontinued it in 1999.
David Allen Gall was a Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey, who ranked fifth in lifetime wins by North American jockeys and who was the first jockey in the United States to ride eight winners on a single racecard. Gall was born in Rose Valley, Saskatchewan.
Horse racing in the United States dates back to 1665, which saw the establishment of the Newmarket course in Salisbury, New York, a section of what is now known as the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York. This first racing meet in North America was supervised by New York's colonial governor, Richard Nicolls. The area is now occupied by the present Nassau County, New York, region of Greater Westbury and East Garden City.