Bay Meadows Racetrack facts for kids
| Location | San Mateo, California |
|---|---|
| Date opened | November 13, 1934 |
| Date closed | August 17, 2008 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred |
Bay Meadows was a famous place where horse racing happened. It was a track located in San Mateo, California, which is in the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. It was open from 1934 until 2008.
Contents
History of Bay Meadows Racetrack
Bay Meadows Racecourse was built on what used to be an old airfield. It was the longest-running thoroughbred (a type of racehorse) racetrack in California. It first opened on November 13, 1934. It closed its doors on August 17, 2008.
A clever person named William P. Kyne brought many new ideas to Bay Meadows. He introduced pari-mutuel betting, which is a popular way to bet on races. He also started the Daily double bet. Other cool inventions included the first fully enclosed starting gate for horses. He also brought in the totalizator board (a big scoreboard) and the photo-finish camera. These cameras helped decide winners in very close races.
Famous Races and Horses
Before the track closed, the Bay Meadows Handicap was the oldest race in California that ran every year. It started in 1934. The famous horse Seabiscuit won this race twice, in 1937 and 1938.
During World War II, Bay Meadows was allowed to stay open. This was because it agreed to give 92% of its profits to help with the war effort. The track raised over $4 million for War Relief projects during those years. Because it could run races during the war, it became the longest continuously operating racetrack in the U.S. In 1945, the first racehorse to travel by plane, named El Lobo, landed right in the parking lot!
In 1948, a jockey who would later become very famous, Bill Shoemaker, started his career here. He practiced riding horses on this track. He won his first big race, called a stakes race, at Bay Meadows in 1949.
Other Sports and Movies
Bay Meadows wasn't just for horse racing. In 1950 and 1951, the Bay Meadows 150 AAA Indy Car race was held at the track.
From 1954 to 1956, NASCAR races also took place there. In the 1955 event, Elias Bowie made history. He became the first African-American person to start a top-level NASCAR race.
The outside scenes for Stanley Kubrick's 1956 movie The Killing were filmed at Bay Meadows. In the movie, the track was called Lansdowne, but you can still see the Bay Meadows name in one early scene.
Racing Seasons and Types
The racing season at Bay Meadows usually started in August. This included the San Mateo County Fair races for two weeks. After a short break, the main thoroughbred races began around Labor Day. This main season was split into two parts: one in the fall and another in the spring or early summer.
Over the years, Bay Meadows also hosted harness racing (where horses pull a driver in a cart) and quarter horse racing. However, these events didn't make much money. So, in its final years, Bay Meadows focused only on thoroughbred racing.
Many famous horses raced at Bay Meadows. These include Olden Times, Silky Sullivan, Citation, John Henry, Round Table, and Lost in the Fog. In 1954, Determine won the Bay Meadows Derby here. Then, he went on to win the famous Kentucky Derby. Wild Again raced at Bay Meadows in 1984 and later won the Breeders' Cup Classic. On December 1, 2006, jockey Russell Baze won a race here. This win made him the jockey with the most wins ever in thoroughbred horse racing, passing Laffit Pincay, Jr.
Future Plans for the Area
For many years in the 2000s, there was talk about tearing down Bay Meadows. Plans were made to build a new racetrack near Dixon, California. Because of this, Bay Meadows stayed open year-by-year.
In 2005, the city of San Mateo approved a plan for the Bay Meadows site. This plan included building 1,250,000 square feet of office space, 1,250 homes, 150,000 square feet of retail stores, and 15 acres of public parks. It also planned for a new Hillsdale Caltrain station nearby.
Track Features
Bay Meadows had a one-mile dirt oval track. It also had a seven-furlong (about 0.875 miles) turf (grass) oval track. The stadium could hold 12,000 people. There were also stables on site for 900 horses.
Closure of the Racetrack
The track needed to replace its dirt surface with a safer artificial one for the horses. When it couldn't get more time to do this from the California Horse Racing Board, Bay Meadows announced it would close on November 4, 2006.
However, on July 3, 2007, the California Horse Racing Board allowed Bay Meadows to stay open for one more year, in 2008. So, Bay Meadows had its last Spring Meet from February 6 to May 11, 2008. There were ten final race dates in August 2008 for the San Mateo County Fair. The very last official race happened on August 17, 2008. The track closed for good on August 18, 2008.
An auction for Bay Meadows paintings took place from August 23 to August 25. Construction on the new housing and business development started in September 2008. Some people in the community were upset because piles of materials from the demolition were left on the site for several months.
Types of Races Held
Bay Meadows hosted several important graded stakes races:
- Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Handicap (Grade 3)
- Bay Meadows Derby (Grade 3)
- California Juvenile Stakes (Grade 3)
- El Camino Real Derby (Grade 3)
- Seabiscuit Handicap (Bay Meadows) (Grade 3)
It also held other important races that were not graded:
- Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint Handicap
- California Oaks, also known as Bay Meadows Oaks
