Another Brick Falls: Hazel Park Raceway Is Shuttered
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org
FROM
Horseracing
Wrongs
April 2018
Hazel Park Raceway's demise was inevitable – and so
too is Michigan’s only remaining track, Northville Downs, a harness facility
with but 59 days of racing scheduled for 2018. Progress, folks.
We activists are often asked, “What do you propose to do with all the
horses if you get your wish and Racing ends?” It is, of course, a spurious
question, a pathetic and desperate attempt to trip us up – gotcha, they hope
to say, you have no plan; are you just going to let 100,000 horses starve to
death? Horseracing clearly will not disappear overnight; it will (has been,
actually) go brick-by-brick – until, at last, not a one remains. Yesterday,
another brick fell. A sign at Hazel Park Raceway in Michigan:
Hazel had just converted back to Thoroughbred in 2014. Given that this
was the only flat racing in Michigan, a top-ten population with almost 10
million people, this might seem a rather quick and shocking failure. But to
those with a working knowledge of Racing, it was not unexpected at all. For
you see, Michigan is not a racino state; the horseracing industry there has
no slot machines to bail it out. Without the corporate welfare that is so
unfortunately common in other racing-states, Hazel’s demise was inevitable –
and so too is Michigan’s only remaining track, Northville Downs, a harness
facility with but 59 days of racing scheduled for 2018. Progress, folks.
Progress…
Shuttered tracks since 2000 (37 and counting):
- Anthony Downs, Kansas, closed 2009 after 105 years of racing
Atlantic City Race Course, New Jersey, closed 2015 after 69 years of
racing
Atokad Downs, Nebraska, closed 2011 after 55 years of racing
Balmoral Park, Illinois, closed 2015 after 89 years of racing
Bay Meadows, California, closed 2008 after 74 years of racing
Beulah Park, Ohio, closed 2014 after 91 years of racing
Blue Ribbon Downs, Oklahoma, closed 2010 after 47 years of racing
Brockton Fair, Massachusetts, closed 2001 after 60 years of racing
Colonial Downs, Virginia, closed 2014 after 17 years of racing
Dayton Days, Washington, closed 2010 after 122 years of racing
Eureka Downs, Kansas, closed 2011 after 108 years of racing
Garden State Park Racetrack, New Jersey, closed 2001 after 59 years of
racing
Great Lakes Downs, Michigan, closed 2007 after 18 years of racing
Hazel Park, Michigan, closed 2018 after 69 years of racing
Hollywood Park, California, closed 2013 after 75 years of racing
Jackson Harness Raceway, Michigan, closed 2008 after 60 years of racing
Les Bois Park, Idaho, closed 2016 after 46 years of racing
Lone Oak Park, Oregon, closed 2000 after 67 years of racing
Manor Downs, Texas, closed 2010 after 20 years of racing
Maywood Park, Illinois, closed 2015 after 69 years of racing
Mount Pleasant Meadows, Michigan, closed 2013 after 28 years of racing
Northampton Fair, Massachusetts, closed 2005 after 62 years of racing
Northwest Montana Fair, Montana, closed 2011 after unknown number of
years
Pinnacle Race Course, Michigan, closed 2010 after 2 years of racing
Playfair Race Course, Washington, closed 2001 after 100 years of racing
Rochester Fair, New Hampshire, closed 2007 after 73 years of racing
Rockingham Park, New Hampshire, closed 2009 after 103 years of racing
Saginaw Valley Downs, Michigan, closed 2005 after 25 years of racing
Solano Fair, California, closed 2009 after 58 years of racing
Sports Creek Raceway, Michigan, closed 2015 after 28 years of racing
Sportsman’s Park, Illinois, closed 2002 after 70 years of racing
Waitsburg, Washington, closed 2010 after 99 years of racing
Walla Walla Fair, Washington, closed 2010 after 144 years of racing
Western Montana Fair, Montana, closed 2010 after 96 years of racing
Woodlands Racecourse, Kansas, closed 2007 after 17 years of racing
Yavapai Downs, Arizona, closed 2010 after 50 years of racing
Yellowstone Downs, Montana, closed 2011 after 65 years of racing
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