Atlantic City Race Course facts for kids
Racecourse sign
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| Location | Mays Landing, New Jersey United States |
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| Owned by | Greenwood ACRA |
| Date opened | 1946 |
| Date closed | 2015 |
| Course type | Flat |
The Atlantic City Race Course (ACRC) was a famous place where Thoroughbred horses raced. It was also known as the Atlantic City Race Track. This race track was located in Mays Landing, which is part of Hamilton Township in New Jersey, United States.
Even though it had "Atlantic City" in its name, the race course was actually about 14 miles (23 km) away from Atlantic City. It was near the Hamilton Mall. The Atlantic City Race Course officially closed its doors in January 2015.
The main track was quite large, measuring 1⅛ miles (about 1.8 km) long and 100 feet (30 m) wide. It also had a special 7-furlong (about 1.4 km) starting area. The straight part of the main track was 947.29 feet (288.73 m) long. There was also a separate grass track, called a turf course, which was 100 feet (30 m) wide and one mile (1.6 km) long.
The race course had seats for 10,000 people. Many more, up to 25,000, could stand and watch the races. In total, the Atlantic City Race Course covered more than 250 acres (1.0 km²) of land.
Contents
History of the Race Course
How It Started
The Atlantic City Race Course first opened on July 22, 1946. It was created by a group of four people. The most well-known person in this group was John B. Kelly Sr.. He worked with Fred C. Scholler, Glendon Robertson, and James "Sonny" Fraser to build the race course.
Many famous people from show business also owned parts of the race course. These included singers like Frank Sinatra, comedians like Bob Hope, and bandleaders like Harry James, Sammy Kaye, and Xavier Cugat.
Famous Moments at ACRC
One of the greatest racehorses of all time, named Kelso, ran his very first race at ACRC. This happened on September 4, 1959, when he was two years old. At that time, ACRC was one of the top race tracks in the country.
In 1964, the race course was even used for filming a movie! Scenes for the famous thriller Marnie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, were shot there.
The Atlantic City Pop Festival
From August 1 to 3, 1969, a huge music event called the Atlantic City Pop Festival took place at the race course. Around 100,000 people came to the festival. This was a much larger crowd than expected.
Local police and government groups had a hard time managing so many people. This festival happened just a few weeks before the even bigger Woodstock Festival in New York. Roads leading to the race course were full of young people. Many of them camped in the nearby forest areas.
Changes Over Time
In the late 1970s, new casinos opened in Atlantic City. This meant fewer people came to the race track. Also, other race tracks that had casinos (called "racinos") started to attract better horses. Because of this, ACRC found it harder to make money.
In 1998, the owner, Bob Levy, said the track would close. However, it stayed open and held short racing events. This allowed it to keep its permit for showing races from other tracks on TV screens (called simulcasting).
In 2001, the track was sold to the owners of Philadelphia Park Racetrack. After that, it was mostly used for simulcasting. From 1998 until it closed, ACRC only held live races for about four to ten days each year.
Plans for the Future (That Didn't Happen)
In 2010, there were plans to make big changes to the race course property. The idea was to fix up the grandstand (where people watch races). They also wanted to build a 20-story hotel and a conference center next to it.
The plans also included an office and research park. This park would have been called the "NextGen International Aviation Center for Excellence." It would have had six office buildings and housing for workers and students. The horse stables would have moved to a new spot. There were also plans for new roads and parking lots. The middle of the track oval would have become a lake and a community green space. These plans were connected to a research park being built at Atlantic City International Airport.
In 2011, the Atlantic City Race Course received $1 million to make improvements. This money came from a special fund to help race tracks that lost business because of simulcasting.
The Final Closure
On January 9, 2015, Greenwood ACRA, the company that owned and ran the Atlantic City Race Course, announced that the track would close for good. The very last day of racing at ACRC was January 16, 2015.
See Also
- List of U.S. horse racing venues
