Racetracks are closing around the country.
10-06-24 STFLA #3688
New Jersey will be saying goodbye to the 170-year-old Freehold Raceway on December 28th. Freehold Raceway is the oldest horse racing track in the United States and featured standardbred horses. While not as popular as the thoroughbred horse racing industry, people used to pack standardbred venues around the country at one time. New Jersey will have just one racetrack in 2025, that is open and that is at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford. It is easy to understand why Freehold Raceway is shutting down. The business is not what it used to be. Freehold Raceway’s demise will impact New Jersey’s standardbred racing industry with people connected to the racetrack in non-racetrack roles losing jobs. Racetracks in Arlington Heights, Illinois and the 83-year-old Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, California closed down. In Maryland, the Pimlico Racetrack is undergoing massive renovations and will be closed until 2027. When the racetrack reopens, the Laurel Park, Maryland racetrack will be closed and become a horse training center.
In 1950, baseball, boxing and horse racing were the major sports in the United States. Much of horse racing’s allure was gambling and the track was the place to go to make legal bets. But horse racing’s huge following quickly faded after the 1950s as states began lotteries and betting was made easy. Tracks have closed around the country and there is no novelty to horse racing anymore. Most of the race tracks that are surviving are doing so thanks to slot machines inside the premises. The New York racing industry about two decades ago was in deep financial trouble and was saved by the opening of slot machines inside the various tracks around the state. Horse racing has another major problem. Race horses are dying at a very high rate and there are calls to end racing. Freehold Raceway is just vestige from a bygone era.
I’m Evan Weiner
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