Latonia Race Track on Winston Avenue in Latonia (Covington) Kentucky, six miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio, was a Thoroughbred horse racing facility opened in 1883.
The track hosted a spring-summer racing series and a second in late fall. It was once regarded as among the United States' top sites for racing, and drew more than 100,000 visitors annually. The 1924 Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold ran at Latonia Race Track, and jockey Eddie Arcaro got his start there.
The track's main attraction was the annual 1½ mile Latonia Derby, initially run as the "Hindoo Stakes" in honor of the great Kentucky-bred champion Hindoo.It became so popular that in 1912 a motion picture was made by Independent Motion Picture Co. titled Winning the Latonia Derby that featured silent film star King Baggot.
The inaugural 1883 Latonia Derby was won by Kentucky Derby winner Leonatus. Future Derby winners Kingman (1891), Halma (1895), Ben Brush (1896), Lieut. Gibson (1900), Elwood (1904), and Sir Huon (1906) also won the race and the 1918 edition was won by Harry Payne Whitney's Belmont Stakes winning colt, Johren.
In November 1909, an airmeet was held at Latonia. The airmeet was a small affair, but included famed aviator Glenn Curtiss and others such as Charles Willard and Roy Knabenshue. The highlight of the meet was a race held between Curtiss and Willard "for a cup offered by the local capitalist". [1] The meet was "understood to be the opening move to secure for Cincinnati the international aviation meet in 1910", [1] although the meet would eventually be held in Dominguez Field, Los Angeles instead.
In the days when a rope was used as the starting barrier and restarts were a common problem, in a 1917 race with a field of twelve starters, five horses crashed at the start of a race. [2] July 1, 1939, marked the first time Thoroughbred racing used an electric starting gate, the invention of Texan Clay Puett. [3]
On October 11, 1924, 60,000 racing fans flocked to Latonia Race Track to witness the third and final edition of the International Special races that pitted the honored guest, French champion Epinard, against top American horses. The race featured stars of the day such as Chilhowee and Belmont Stakes winner Mad Play plus future U.S. Hall of Famers Princess Doreen and Sarazen. It was Sarazen who won the race and with it sealed Horse of the Year honors. Epinard finished second, as he had done in the previous two International Specials at Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City.
Financial difficulties during the Great Depression forced Latonia Race Track to close its doors with its last race card held on July 29, 1939. The facility was sold to Standard Oil of Ohio and dismantled during World War II. Today the property is the site of the Latonia Shopping Center and WCVG-AM radio.
In 1959, a new operation called the Latonia Race Course opened in Florence, Kentucky about 10 miles west of the original Latonia site. In 1986 that facility changed its name to Turfway Park.
Belmont Park is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Elmont, New York, just east of New York City limits best known for hosting the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the American Triple Crown. It was opened on May 4, 1905, and is one of the best well known racetracks in the United States. The original structure was demolished in 1963, and a second facility opened in 1968. The second structure was demolished in 2023, and a third version of Belmont Park is expected to open in 2026.
Mr. Prospector was a Thoroughbred racehorse who became an outstanding breeding stallion and notable sire of sires. A sprinter whose career was cut short by repeated injuries, he won seven of his 14 starts, including the Gravesend Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack and the Whirlaway Handicap at Garden State Park.
Hindoo (1878–1901) was an outstanding American Thoroughbred race horse who won 30 of his 35 starts, including the Kentucky Derby, the Travers Stakes, and the Clark Handicap. He later sired Preakness Stakes winner Buddhist and Belmont Stakes winner and Leading sire in North America Hanover.
Turfway Park is an American horse racing track located within the city limits of Florence, Kentucky, about 10 miles (16 km) south of the Ohio River at Cincinnati. The track conducts live Thoroughbred horse racing during two meets each year—Holiday (December), and Winter/Spring —and offers year-round simulcast wagering from tracks across the continent.
Old Rosebud was an American Thoroughbred racehorse whose pedigree traced to the influential sire Eclipse, and through Eclipse to the founding stallion, the Darley Arabian. In the list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century by Blood-Horse magazine, Old Rosebud ranks 88th. Despite a successful racing career, Old Rosebud was plagued by ailments throughout his life, culminating in a fatal injury at a claiming race when he was 11 years old.
The Rushaway Stakes is an American ungraded Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky. It was first run on March 22, 1986, the last year the racetrack was called Latonia. The race is open to three-year-old horses and run over a distance of one and one sixteenth miles. Originally raced on natural dirt, and for the first two years at one mile, since 2021 it has been contested on Tapeta synthetic dirt.
Sarazen (1921–1940) was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Owned by Colonel Phil T. Chinn's Himyar Stud, Sarazen won his first three starts. Chinn then sold him for a huge profit to Virginia Fair Vanderbilt, who raced him under her Fair Stable banner.
The International Specials of 1924 were a series of three Thoroughbred horse races held in September and October at three different race tracks in the United States. They were called "International" because the race included the champion from France, who had won there and in England.
Épinard (1920–1942) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and sire.
Hard Spun is an American Thoroughbred racehorse that finished second in the 2007 Kentucky Derby.
Princess Doreen (1921–1952) was a Thoroughbred racehorse best known for being the top American female money-winner. After showing promising form as a two-year-old she improved to be the best female racehorse of her generation for the next three seasons. Not only did she race males and win, but she did so carrying high weight for four years.
Dallas Stewart trains a string of thoroughbred horses in Kentucky from bases at Churchill Downs, Turfway Park, Keeneland Race Course, Fair Grounds Race Course, Arlington Park and Saratoga Race Course. Before venturing out on his own, he spent 12 years working under the tutelage of leading trainer D. Wayne Lukas. There, he oversaw such horses as Lady's Secret, Thunder Gulch, Serena's Song, Timber Country, Tabasco Cat, and many other Grade I winners.
Sunfire was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, bred and raced by the co-owner and president of Saratoga Race Course, Richard T. Wilson, Jr.
The Latonia Derby was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually from 1883 through 1937 at Latonia Race Track in Latonia, Kentucky. Open to three-year-old horses, for its first 52 years the Latonia Derby was contested at a mile and a half then in 1935 the distance was shortened to a mile and a quarter. It was run as the Hindoo Stakes from inception in 1883 to 1886 in honor of the Kentucky-bred U.S. Racing Hall of Fame horse, Hindoo. The race usually attracted the Kentucky Derby winner; it became so popular that in 1912 a motion picture was made by Independent Motion Picture Co. entitled Winning the Latonia Derby, featuring silent film star King Baggot.
Springbok (1870–1897) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the seventh Belmont Stakes in 1873. Foaled in 1870, he was sired by the imported stallion Australian, his dam was a daughter of Lexington. During his racing career he started 25 races, winning 17 of them. Besides the Belmont, Springbok won the Saratoga Cup twice, in 1874 and 1875 and was named Champion Older Male horse in 1874 and 1875. After retiring from the racetrack, he sired five stakes winners and died in 1897.
Cleopatra was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. The filly's sire was Corcyra, a son of three-time the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland Polymelus. Her dam was Gallice, a daughter of Gallinule. Cleopatra is probably best remembered for her easy victory in the second running of the Pimlico Oaks on May 17, 1920.
Rushaway was an American Thoroughbred racehorse whose enduring legacy was his two Derby wins on consecutive days in two different states. Owned and trained by Alfred Tarn, in both races, Rushaway was ridden by Tarn's son-in-law, the future National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame inductee Johnny Longden. On Friday afternoon, May 22, 1936, Rushaway won the Illinois Derby at Aurora Downs in Aurora, Illinois. That night, Tarn shipped the three-year-old gelding three hundred miles south via express train to the Latonia Race Track in Latonia, Kentucky, where on Saturday afternoon he won the Latonia Derby. Rushaway's feat of endurance is still talked about more than eighty years later.
The Huron Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run between 1901 and 1940 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Raced on dirt, it was run at a distance of 1 3/16 miles with the exception of 1914 when the distance was set at 1 1/4 miles.
William Ernest "Smiley" Adams was an American trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses who trained Master Derby to win the 1975 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series. In what was the 100th running of the Preakness, Darrel McHargue aboard Master Derby defeated Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure by a full-length.
Silver Cloud was an American Thoroughbred racehorse bred and raced by "Lucky" Baldwin. He was trained by the prominent African-American Albert Cooper and ridden by the future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee African-American jockey Isaac Murphy.