Location | San Bruno, California, United States |
---|---|
Coordinates | 37°38′08″N122°25′09″W / 37.6354361°N 122.4190361°W |
Date opened | November 4, 1899 |
Date closed | July 31, 1964 (fire) |
Course type | Flat for Thoroughbreds |
Notable races | Tanforan Handicap |
Tanforan Racetrack, also known as Tanforan Park, was a thoroughbred horse racing facility in San Bruno on the San Francisco Peninsula in California. It operated from November 4, 1899 to 1964. The horse racing track and buildings were constructed to serve a clientele from nearby San Francisco.
Between April and October 1942, the racetrack was the site of the Tanforan Assembly Center, an internment camp in which 8,000 Bay Area Japanese Americans were detained and processed for forced relocation and internment. [1]
The racetrack was destroyed by fire on July 31, 1964. [2] The site is now the location of The Shops at Tanforan shopping center. The mall has a Tanforan Racetrack historical plaque, the Tanforan Assembly Center commemorative garden and a statue of Seabiscuit.
The site, 12 mi (19 km) from San Francisco, was chosen to circumvent a ban on gambling that had been implemented on March 13, 1899, which closed down the Ingleside track in the southwestern corner of the city. [3] [4] The San Francisco Board of Supervisors (SFBoS) attempted to re-legalize gambling as betting with pool selling in July, but the measure was vetoed by Mayor James D. Phelan. [5] Edward C. Corrigan, who operated Ingleside, lost a $250,000 investment he had made in the track, spurring him to start a new track outside San Francisco. Corrigan organized a team of investors, the Western Turf Association, for this purpose; the principal shareholders were banker William H. Crocker and his brother-in-law Prince Andre Poniatowski, a self-styled nobleman [6] who wintered in San Francisco. [7] The Western Turf Association acquired 150 acres (61 ha) of land in San Bruno and began construction of the grandstand by September 1899, which was estimated to cost US$35,000(equivalent to $1,280,000 in 2023) and scheduled to open in time for the season in November. [8] The facility was named after Toribio Tanforan, [9] the grandson-in-law of Jose Antonio Sanchez, the grantee of the Rancho Buri Buri Mexican land grant. [10] [11] Approximately 700 men labored to complete the new track, [12] and by late September, paving work had begun for the road servicing Tanforan Park, requiring 150 cu yd/d (110 m3/d) of gravel. [13]
The race track, then named Tanfaran Park, opened for racing on November 4, 1899. [14] The 1 mi (1.6 km) oval track was oriented with its major axis lying along an imaginary line between the Golden Gate and Mount Hamilton. [15] The grandstand had seats for 3000 with a total capacity for 5000 spectators; service was provided by Southern Pacific on the Peninsula Commute via a stop in front of the grandstand, just 30 minutes from the Third and Townsend Depot. [15] Before races started, the neighboring Bay Area tracks agreed to have half the regular season raced at the California Jockey Club in Oakland (that racetrack opened as the Oakland Trotting Park in 1871 [16] at the Emeryville Shellmound in what is now Emeryville), [17] [18] and to split the remaining half between Ingleside in San Francisco and the new Tanfaran Park track in San Bruno. [19] The track's name quickly was corrupted to Tanforan Park within that first winter season, which lasted just two weeks, holding six races per weekday, from 1:30 PM to 4 PM. [20] In addition, six stakes races were scheduled to be run. [21]
The first season was marred a feud between Corrigan, the owner of Ingleside and de facto leader of Tanforan, and Thomas H. Williams Jr., President of the California Jockey Club, which had been founded by his father, Thomas H. Williams Sr. Corrigan's initial bitterness stemmed from the closure of Ingleside in 1899, as he felt that Williams Jr. had influenced the decision to shut down gambling in San Francisco and in so doing, secure a monopoly on horse racing in the Bay Area for Oakland. [7] The dispute was exacerbated when Corrigan's entries were refused by the Oakland track; as he had been repudiated by reputable horsemen nationwide, the California Jockey Club wanted nothing to do with him. Corrigan took revenge "by making Tanforan a haven for men whose methods have made them objectionable at Oakland", which violated the rules of the American Turf Congress. [22] This included Corrigan scheduling a race at Tanforan Park with a US$10,000(equivalent to $370,000 in 2023) purse the same day as the Burns Handicap at Oakland, which carried an identical purse, thinning the field at Oakland. [7] The ostensible leaders of the Western Turf Association made a public apology in January 1900 after Corrigan publicly denounced R.B. Milroy, the secretary of Cal Jockey and author of the San Francisco Call article describing Corrigan's malfeasance. [23] [24] Compounding matters, the finances of the Western Turf Association were called into question during a trial that March. [25] By August of that year, Corrigan was out after Poniatowski, president of the San Francisco Jockey Club, acquired a controlling interest in both the Ingleside and Tanforan Park tracks. [26]
Second season stakes races at Tanforan Park included the Winter Handicap, with a purse of US$3,000(equivalent to $110,000 in 2023) on January 26, 1901; Eclipse, US$1,500(equivalent to $50,000 in 2023) on February 2; California Oaks, US$2,500(equivalent to $90,000 in 2023) on February 9; California Derby , US$3,000(equivalent to $110,000 in 2023) on March 2; Spring Handicap, US$3,000(equivalent to $110,000 in 2023) on March 30; and Great Trial Stakes, US$2,500(equivalent to $90,000 in 2023) on April 27. [15] The feud between Tanforan and Cal Jockey was not resolved by pushing out Corrigan, however; in February 1901, a "declaration of war" was made when Poniatowski stated that racing would continue at Tanforan indefinitely to draw competitors and bettors away from Oakland, as he felt that Williams Jr. had improperly influenced San Mateo County to shorten Tanforan's season. [27] Williams in turn saw the prolonged session as a violation of the 1899 agreement to split the racing season between the three tracks [28] and vowed to keep the California Jockey Club operating as well. [29]
The SFBoS again passed a measure permitting pool selling in early March 1901, bringing hopes the Ingleside track could be reopened, [30] but the measure was vetoed by Mayor Phelan, renewing the ban on gambling in San Francisco. [31] Williams settled the dispute a few days later by purchasing both Ingleside and Tanforan Park from the San Francisco Jockey Club for US$600,000(equivalent to $21,970,000 in 2023); Poniatowski admitted that Phelan's veto influenced his decision to sell. [32] Bay Area racing was consolidated under the New California Jockey Club, incorporating members from the Western Turf Association, Pacific Coast Jockey Club, and San Francisco Jockey Club, and the last race of the season at Tanforan Park was held on April 19. [33] [34] [35] Although horse racing continued at Tanforan intermittently that fall, [36] in January 1902 Williams announced that no more horses would be raced at both Ingleside and Tanforan Park. [37] However, the track continued to operate, as some horses were kept at Tanforan to prepare for races at Oakland and Ingleside. [38] Williams met with sugar magnate Adolph B. Spreckels in April 1903 and agreed to lease Tanforan to Spreckels for automobile racing. [39] As a result of the feuds and leases, Tanforan Park saw a variety of uses during its early years, including dog shows, [40] motorcycle races, [41] [42] and auto races. [43] [44]
By 1908, Williams stated the track at Tanforan Park would be extended and horse racing might resume after the Bayshore Cutoff had improved rail passenger service to the site; however, the Ingleside track, which had been used to house people displaced by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, was unlikely to reopen. [45] Horse racing resumed that fall, with the final race of the 1908 season held on November 1. [46]
In January 1910, Tanforan Park served as the site for the San Francisco International Air Meet, which was the second aviation event in the United States, following the inaugural event held in Los Angeles the week before. The Air Meet was organized by the Pacific Aero Club and attended by aviation notables Louis Paulhan and John J. Montgomery. [47] Attempts to take off were scrubbed on January 23 due to stormy conditions. [48] Paulhan first took flight on January 24, covering 12 mi (19 km) in 12 minutes after the storm that had thwarted his takeoff attempts earlier had passed; [49] it was the first recorded flight in northern California. [50] The next day, he flew for 10 mi (16 km) at an altitude of between 200 and 500 ft (61 and 152 m), witnessed by 30,000 spectators, the largest crowd to ever visit Tanforan Park; [51] finally, to close the exhibition, Paulhan took off from Tanforan Park at 3:55 PM on January 26 and flew to Redwood City and back in 31 minutes, 30 seconds, a distance of 30 mi (48 km) at an altitude ranging from 400 to 1,300 ft (120 to 400 m). [52] Paulhan's flights were taken in his Farman III biplane. [53] After watching Paulhan flying at Tanforan in 1910, Ivan Gates was inspired to begin his career of exhibition flying. [54]
Approximately one year later, the San Francisco International Air Meet opened on January 7, 1911, with American aviators Glenn Curtiss, Eugene Burton Ely, and Charles F. Willard scheduled to fly alongside Hubert Latham (France) and James Radley (England). This time, a new airfield on the opposite side of the interurban tracks from Tanforan Park was used, named Selfridge Field (not to be confused with the later air base in Michigan) to honor Lt. Thomas Selfridge. [50] The military was an eager participant in 1911, having taken the responsibility to prepare Selfridge Field and staging several exhibitions at the Air Meet, including military maneuvers and early applications of airplanes to war, with Latham and Willard shooting stationary targets, then Willard dropping practice bombs within a 45 ft (14 m) circle from an altitude of 200 ft (61 m). [50]
The 1911 Air Meet would include multiple aviation firsts. On January 15 Phil Parmalee piloted a Wright Model B biplane carrying Lt. Myron S. Crissy, who dropped a live bomb within 10 ft (3.0 m) of its target from an altitude of 500 ft (150 m) as the first instance of aerial bombing in the United States. [50] [55] : 45 The first aerial reconnaissance flight was held the next day, as Lt. George E.M. Kelly and Walter Brookins flew at an altitude of 2,000 ft (610 m), unsuccessfully trying to locate ground troops that had taken shelter in wooded areas nearby. [56] On January 18, Ely took off from Tanforan in his Curtiss Model D airplane and landed on the USS Pennsylvania, an armored cruiser temporarily fitted with a short flight deck and anchored in San Francisco Bay. [57] This was the first ever successful shipboard landing of an aircraft, and the first to use the tailhook system, leading to today's aircraft carrier technology. Later that same day, Ely took off from the Pennsylvania (now pointed into the wind) and landed back at Tanforan. [58] Finally, on January 21, Lt. Paul W. Beck was the passenger and radio operator for the first air-to-ground wireless transmission on a flight piloted by Parmalee; the transmitter was designed and built by Beck and the signal was received from a distance of 40 mi (64 km). [55] : 45 [59] [60]
A third air meet at Tanforan Park started on December 25, 1912, with flying exhibitions to feature local pilots Lincoln Beachey and Tom Gunn; in addition to close passes and other aerial acrobatics, Beachey raced in his airplane against an automobile (driven by "Daredevil" Edwards) and motorcycle. [61] [62] Beachey also was scheduled to present a game of "aerial leapfrog" with his friend and fellow stunt pilot Horace Kearny, but Kearny was killed ten days before the event opened in an apparent crash while flying in a "hydro-aeroplane" with reporter Chester Lawrence from Newport Beach; [63] Roy Francis performed the stunt with Beachey instead. [64]
Tanforan was temporarily converted into a United States military training center in summer 1917 during World War I. Camp Tanforan was used by the "Grizzlies", a volunteer regiment organized as the 144th Field Artillery of the United States Army. [65] [66] The Grizzlies held their first muster at Tanforan on August 31, 1917 [67] and departed for Camp Linda Vista (later renamed to Camp Kearny), near San Diego, for further preparation on October 25. [68] To help raise funds for the Grizzlies, [69] aviator Katherine Stinson flew to the track in December 1917 for aerial exhibitions, [70] [71] setting a nonstop solo aerial distance record of 610 mi (980 km) from San Diego in the process. [72] [73] At Tanforan, Gunn presented Stinson with a medal from China in recognition of her Asian tour over the winter of 1916–17. [74] The 1500 soldiers of the Grizzlies arrived safely overseas in August 1918 [75] and began returning from the war in January 1919. [76]
Meanwhile, the ban on "pool selling" had been extended statewide on January 31, 1911, effectively ending horse racing at Tanforan Park. [77] The grandstand and stables were dismantled in December 1918 after "rapidly [degenerating] into a home for hobos and spiders" between the 1911 ban and the site's 1917 reactivation as Camp Tanforan, followed by foreclosure proceedings in 1918 against Cal Jockey which forced the property's sale. [78] [79]
The track was rebuilt in 1922 [80] and reopened without betting for the 1923 and 1924 seasons through the subsidy of the Pacific Coast Jockey Club, a group of prominent area businessmen led by Adolph B. Spreckels, [81] who was Club president and had previously leased the track for auto racing in 1903. [82] The Club announced its intentions to reopen Tanforan as a "clean sport" without betting shortly after incorporating in January 1922. [83] Work on the steel grandstand, which had a seated capacity of 5000 spectators and an estimated cost of US$100,000(equivalent to $1,820,000 in 2023), started in December 1922. [84] The new owners were John W. Marchbank and William P. Kyne. [85] Rudolph Spreckels, vice president of the Pacific Coast Jockey Club, confidently declared that no betting was allowed at Tanforan. [86] Other officials of Pacific Coast Jockey Club included Herbert Fleishhacker and John D. Stelling. [87] Before the start of racing, the rebuilt Tanforan track was the site of a barbecue in September 1923 celebrating the Pony Express, marked by horse relays from Stockton to Tanforan via San Jose and San Francisco, following the original route. [88] A rodeo was held at the same time, featuring an appearance by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford on September 9. [89]
The 1923 season was scheduled to run from November 3 to December 1, with six races each day except Sundays. There were nine scheduled stakes events that season. [87] Horse racing was planned to be discontinued again after the 1924 spring season; the track had sustained a loss conservatively estimated at US$100,000(equivalent to $1,780,000 in 2023), making it impossible to operate without legalized betting. [90] As before, the track turned to auto racing [91] and other events, including considering the installation of a boxing ring, [92] although it was alleged that betting continued on at least one occasion. [93] Intermittent operation continued in the 1920s, with betless racing held in 1926 and 1928. Marchbank, Kyne, and Judge Joseph A. Murphy introduced "option" betting after the 1928 season, allowing the track to resume more regular operation. [94] [95]
Stakes races continued at Tanforan, which introduced starting gates built by Bahr for the fall 1930 season starting November 15. [96] The California Horse Racing Board was created in 1933 to regulate and license horse racing in California, including wagering on the results; the legislation which allowed parimutuel betting was championed by Kyne. [94] [97] [98] Kyne had first pushed the bill in 1931, then after the Governor vetoed a version that passed in 1933, lobbied for its subsequent successful passage. [95] In 1932, Kyne sold his interest in Tanforan Park [99] and completed the Bay Meadows race track in 1934 in nearby San Mateo. [85] That year, Tanforan was rebuilt again and a full racing season was held for the first time since 1924. In this third incarnation, Hollywood film director Frank Capra filmed scenes at Tanforan Park for two of his films, Broadway Bill (1934) [100] and its remake, Riding High (1950). [101] : 218 Prominent local banker William H. Crocker appeared in the background of a scene for Broadway Bill. [102]
Tanforan Park was acquired by the Wartime Civil Control Administration in April 1942 [103] and from April to October 1942, used as the Tanforan Assembly Center, where 7,800 Japanese-Americans from the San Francisco Bay Area were held after the signing of Executive Order 9066. For comparison, the population of San Bruno was 6,519 in 1940. [104]
The detainees were mostly U.S. citizens by birth, and were housed in temporary barracks, converted horse stalls, and the grandstand. Tanforan was one of several temporary Assembly Centers that were chosen "close to home" so that detainees could settle last-minute financial matters, minimize travel distances, and grow acclimated to group living while the permanent "War Relocation Centers" were being built. Conditions at Tanforan were difficult for the detainees, who struggled with sanitation, hunger, loss of freedom, and lack of privacy. [105] : 72
Starting in September, the first group of detainees were transferred from Tanforan to the Topaz War Relocation Center near Delta, Utah; [106] daily trains carried the remaining detainees to Topaz over the next month. [107] After October 13, the site was turned over the United States Army in October, then the Navy in June 1943, who kept the site for the duration of World War II. [108] The site was collectively named a California Historical Landmark along with other Assembly Centers in 1980. [109] Several memorial plaques have been placed on-site, and a Tanforan Assembly Center Memorial is scheduled to be completed outside the San Bruno BART station in spring 2022. [110] [111]
Guy M. Standifer and Jack Ranier purchased the site in 1945 [85] [112] and in spring 1946, the site began a US$2,000,000(equivalent to $31,250,000 in 2023) reconstruction as a race track, despite a nationwide shortage of building materials. The reconstruction permit was denied in May 1946 and a federal judge issued an injunction in 1947 to halt work at Tanforan, but the injunction was ignored and rebuilding the track continued; as a result, Standifer was arrested and jailed for three months alongside several other track officials, [113] and after Eugene Mori took over the track in October 1947, associates of General Vaughan successfully lobbied the Justice Department to lift its injunction prohibiting construction. [114] [115] Racing at Tanforan resumed on March 14, 1947, despite the procurement controversy. [116] At the time, the history as an Assembly Center was elided, and its wartime uses were noted to be merely "as a training and staging area" by the Navy. [117]
At the time, the track was owned secretly by ex-bootlegger Joseph Reinfeld and a minor outrage ensued in 1949 after journalist Drew Pearson reported that aides to President Harry Truman, including General Harry H. Vaughan, had influenced government officials to facilitate the procurement of those materials. [114] As the population of the San Francisco Peninsula and San Mateo County continued to grow after World War II, the track's previously pastoral setting became more urban. For example, the track was under the flight path for nearby San Francisco International Airport; jetliners passing overhead would occasionally startle racehorses unfamiliar with the site. [118] A strike in 1957 idled the track, [119] which subsequently was hit with a cheating scandal in 1958. [120] The track was sold to an "Eastern syndicate" on August 26, 1959 for $5 million, [121] [122] then acquired two months later by a group of four investors led by William G. Gilmore. [123]
Gilmore, the owner of Tanforan and Golden Gate Fields, died in 1962 [124] and 67 acres (27 ha) of the neighboring Navy base was sold to a developer that year for US$1,200,000(equivalent to $12,090,000 in 2023). [125] The last race at Tanforan was held in 1963. [126] In February 1964, the California Horse Racing Board approved the closure of Tanforan, shifting its race dates to nearby Golden Gate Fields in Albany and Bay Meadows (San Mateo); Tanforan Park was scheduled to be demolished. [127] [128] The 143-acre (58 ha) site was sold to the Sunset International Petroleum Corporation in March 1964 for US$6,150,000(equivalent to $60,420,000 in 2023), who planned to build a residential development. [129]
Before demolition could commence, a fire started at the grandstand on the afternoon of Friday, July 31, 1964 first reported at 4:55 P.M. (local) by San Francisco chief deputy sheriff Thomas J. Burns; while driving by, Burns had first seen a "flicker of flame" from a cardboard box, then heard an explosion and watched the flames engulf the building while on the telephone. Within minutes, the main wall collapsed; the speed at which the flames spread led San Bruno fire chief Herbert Freitas to suspect it was the product of arson: "This wouldn't happen — this couldn't happen — with normal combustible materials". Approximately 60 firemen responded from several neighboring cities, limiting the destruction to the grandstand and club house. [126] [130]
Eventually, the site was cleared and redeveloped as the Tanforan Park Shopping Center, which opened in 1971.
Some of thoroughbred racing's most notable owners and trainers competed at Tanforan Racetrack including: owner/breeder James Ben Ali Haggin; owner/trainer Sam Hildreth; and trainer Noble Threewitt. Threewitt set a record when he won with nine consecutive starters at Tanforan in April 1954. [131]
In 1932, the great Australian champion Phar Lap was brought to Tanforan to rest from his long ocean voyage and then conditioned before being shipped in late January to Agua Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico to run in the Agua Caliente Handicap. [132]
Over the years, Tanforan Racecourse saw a number of famous horses compete on its track. Among them, future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Seabiscuit was stabled at Tanforan after recovering from an injury where he began training for a comeback. [133]
In 1948, future U. S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Citation set a new Tanforan track record of 2:02 4⁄5 for 1+1⁄4 mi (2.0 km) in winning the Tanforan Handicap. [134] [135] Two years later his Calumet Farm stablemate and Kentucky Derby winner, Ponder, also won the race. [136]
In 1956, Bobby Brocato won his second straight Tanforan Handicap. That same year, he equaled the Tanforan track record for 8.5 furlongs (5,600 ft; 1,700 m) and set a new track record for 9 furlongs (5,900 ft; 1,800 m). [137]
Seabiscuit was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse special at Pimlico and was voted American Horse of the Year for 1938.
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.
Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races including both the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Handicap as well as hosting the Breeders' Cup in 1986, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2023. In 1984, Santa Anita was the site of equestrian events at the 1984 Olympics. Since 2011, the Stronach Group are the current owners.
Parx Casino and Racing is a Thoroughbred horse racing venue and the largest casino gaming complex in Pennsylvania. Parx is located in Bensalem Township in Bucks County, northeast of the city of Philadelphia. Owned and operated by Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment, Inc., Parx features 24-hour gaming with over 3,200 slot machines, 188 live table games, a poker room with 48 poker tables, live racing and simulcast action, sports betting, several dining options and bars, and the Xcite Center. Parx also offers online gambling and online sports betting along with off-track betting at two locations.
Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to the racetrack complex. Horse racing and training were shut down in December 2013 though the casino operations continued until a new state of the art casino building, the new Hollywood Park Casino, opened in October 2016.
Arlington Park is a former horse race track in the Chicago suburbs of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Once called the Arlington Park Jockey Club, it was located adjacent to the Illinois Route 53 expressway and serviced by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad.
Russell Avery Baze is a retired horse racing jockey. He holds the record for the most race wins in North American horse racing history, and is a member of the United States Racing Hall of Fame and the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame.
Bay Meadows was a horse racing track in San Mateo, California from 1934 until 2008, in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States.
Golden Gate Fields was an American horse racing track straddling both Albany, California and Berkeley, California along the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay adjacent to the Eastshore Freeway in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the closing of the Bay Meadows racetrack on May 11, 2008, it was the only major Thoroughbred racetrack in Northern California. It was owned by The Stronach Group.
The Del Mar Fairgrounds is an event venue in Del Mar, California. The venue hosts the annual San Diego County Fair. It sits on a 370-acre (1.5 km2) property along the Pacific Ocean coastline. The fairgrounds also includes the Del Mar Racetrack, which was built in 1936 by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, with founding member Bing Crosby providing leadership. The Del Mar Fairgrounds and Del Mar Thoroughbred Club share one address for the complex.
The Shops at Tanforan is a regional shopping mall in San Bruno, California, United States. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula, 10 miles (16 km) south of San Francisco city limits.
Hawthorne Race Course is a racetrack for horse racing in Stickney, Illinois, near Chicago.
John Joseph Bullman was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey who competed at racetracks across the United States.
Joe Hernandez was the voice of Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, from the time the track opened on Christmas Day 1934 until he fainted at the microphone on January 27, 1972. It was reported 28 February 2016 on the TVG horseracing channel that Hernandez had been kicked by a horse earlier and died while calling a race at Santa Anita Park. During that time, he called 15,587 races in a row. Over the course of his career, his cry of "There they go!" echoed over a number of notable races including Seabiscuit’s win in the 1940 Santa Anita Handicap and Johnny Longden’s last ride in 1966. His cries of "And here comes Malicious!" and "Silky Sullivan trails …" are remembered to this day.
Earl Dew was an American champion jockey in the sport of thoroughbred horse racing who was being hailed as one of the most promising riders of his generation when he died at age 19 as a result of a racing accident.
Royal Tourist (1905–1909) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the American Classic Preakness Stakes in 1908 and who later that year set a World Record time in winning the Winters Handicap at Emeryville Race Track in Oakland, California.
Ingleside Terraces is an affluent residential neighborhood of approximately 750 detached homes built at the former location of the Ingleside Racetrack in the southwestern part of San Francisco, California, United States. It is adjacent to the Balboa Terrace, Ingleside, Merced Heights, and Lakeside neighborhoods, and is bordered by Ocean Avenue to the north, Ashton Avenue to the east, Holloway Avenue to the south and Junipero Serra Boulevard to the west. The main local event that occurs is the Annual Sundial Park Picnic, in which the local residents host bicycle, chariot, and wagon racing. There is a large sundial located on Entrada Court, surrounded by the oval-shaped Urbano Drive, which was once a horse race track. Ingleside Terraces is one of nine master-planned residence parks in San Francisco.
The Tanforan Assembly Center was created to temporarily detain nearly 8,000 Japanese Americans, mostly from the San Francisco Bay Area, under the auspices of Executive Order 9066. After the order was signed in February 1942, the Wartime Civil Control Administration acquired Tanforan Racetrack on April 4 for use as a temporary assembly center; plans called for the site to be used to accommodate up to 10,000 "evacuees" while permanent relocation sites were being prepared further inland. The Tanforan Assembly Center began operation in late April 1942, the first stop for thousands who were forced to relocate and undergo internment during World War II. The majority were U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry who were born in the United States. Tanforan Assembly Center was operated for slightly less than six months; most detainees at Tanforan were transferred to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah, starting in September. The transfer to Topaz was completed by mid-October, and the site was turned over to the Army a few weeks later.
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.
Indian Broom was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who on April 11, 1936 set a track and World record for a mile and one-eighth on dirt at California's Tanforan Racetrack and who returned the next year on December 4, 1937 and broke that same track's record again in a six furlong sprint.
... the club 'was an organization that flourished in Oakland when the Oakland Trotting and Shellmound Parks were located upon the site of industrial Emeryville'
Here's the new war chant of the 144th field artillery, California's famous volunteer regiment, better known as 'The Grizzlies,' at Camp Kearny.
'Hey, you!' shouted the director, Bud Coleman, working on a picture with Myrna Loy and Warner Baxter, 'you're the type I want. Get up in the grandstand.' The man in the straw hat, whom the director further addressed as 'You, with the whiskers,' and the attractive matron looked surprised but moved Into the grandstand as ordered. After the scene was 'shot', the man, who identified himself at William H. Crocker, San Francisco bank president, said he enjoyed it. The woman was Mrs. Thomas B. Eastland, society leader.