Bay Meadows was a

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

track in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

from 1934 until 2008, in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

in the

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History

Built on the site of an old airfield, Bay Meadows Racecourse was the longest continually operating

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racetrack in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

—having been founded on November 13, 1934—until its closure on August 17, 2008. The innovative William P. Kyne introduced pari-mutuel wagering, the popular daily double, the first all-enclosed starting gate, the totalizator board and the

photo-finish A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the fini ...

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

at Bay Meadows. Prior to the track's closure, the Bay Meadows Handicap had been the longest continually run stakes event in California, having been started in 1934.

Seabiscuit Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933 – May 17, 1947) 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-hors ...

won this race twice: 1937 and 1938. The track was allowed to remain open during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

because of its agreement to give 92% of its profits towards the war effort. The track generated more than $4 million for War Relief projects during the war years. Its ability to run during the war accounts for its status as the longest continually operating US racetrack. In 1945, the first

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

to be transported by plane, El Lobo, was set down in the parking lot. In 1948, the eventual

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

Bill Shoemaker William Lee Shoemaker (August 19, 1931 – October 12, 2003) was an American jockey, considered one of the greatest. For 29 years he held the world record for the most professional jockey victories. Early life Referred to as "Bill", "Willie," ...

, began his career by exercising horses on this track. He won his first stakes race here in 1949. In 1950 and 1951 the Bay Meadows 150 AAA Indy Car race was run at the track. In 1954, 1955 and 1956 the track was used for

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

. In the 1955 event, Elias Bowie became the first African-American to start a top-level

race. All of the exterior scenes in Stanley Kubrick's 1956 heist movie '' The Killing'' were filmed at Bay Meadows. The track was renamed as Lansdowne for the movie but the Bay Meadows name is visible in at least one early scene. Bay Meadows' racing season began in August with the San Mateo County Fair portion of the meet, which ran two weeks. This was followed by a short break of a few days and until recently, this break avoided conflict with the first week-and-a-half of the California State Fair horse race meet. Racing picked up again on

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

Weekend (or thereabouts) with the main thoroughbred meet, which was split into two parts—one in the fall, the other in the spring/early summer (

Golden Gate Fields Golden Gate Fields was an American horse racing race track, track straddling both Albany, California and Berkeley, California along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay adjacent to the Eastshore Freeway in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the closi ...

' meet took place in the interim in the winter/early spring). Throughout its history, Bay Meadows has also hosted harness and

quarter horse The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of or less; some have been clocked at speeds up to . ...

racing meets but due to the low revenue such events generate, they were not run in the final years of the track. At the end, Bay Meadows focused exclusively on thoroughbred racing.

Olden Times Olden Times (1958–1985) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Background Olden Times was conceived in France and bred in California and was raced by Rex Ellsworth, who also bred and raced U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Swaps. He was co ...

, Silky Sullivan,

Citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...

, John Henry,

Round Table The Round Table (; ; ; ) is King Arthur's famed table (furniture), table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status, unlike co ...

and

Lost in the Fog Lost in the Fog (February 4, 2002 – September 17, 2006) was an American thoroughbred race horse. He won his first 10 starts (including two Breeders' Cup stakes), 11 of his 14 lifetime starts across the country, and career earnings of $978,099 ...

have raced here. In 1954,

Determine Determine (April 7, 1951 – September 27, 1972) was an American Thoroughbred race horse. In a racing career which lasted from 1953 through 1955, the California-trained colt ran forty-four times and won eighteen races. His best season was 1954 w ...

won the Bay Meadows Derby then went to take the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby () is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of . Colt (horse), Colts and geldin ...

. Wild Again ran at Bay Meadows in 1984 and went on to win the

Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade I Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3-year-olds and older run at a distance of on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States as part of the Breeders' Cup World Champion ...

. On December 1, 2006, jockey Russell Baze won the fourth race to pass Laffit Pincay, Jr. as the winningest rider ever in thoroughbred horse racing. There was talk through the 2000s of demolishing Bay Meadows due to plans to build an entirely new racetrack near Dixon, California to replace the San Mateo race track so Bay Meadows remained open on a year-by-year case basis. The Bay Meadows Phase II Specific Plan Amendment was adopted by the city council of the city of San Mateo on November 7, 2005. The plan called for of

office An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...

space, 1,250

residential A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...

units, of

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

space, and of

public parks A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

, as well as a rebuilt Hillsdale

Caltrain Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a commuter rail line in California, serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose, California, San Jose at the Tamien station with weekday r ...

station near the site of the old Bay Meadows Caltrain station.

Physical attributes

Bay Meadows had a dirt oval and a seven furlong [] turf oval. The track had a total seating capacity of 12,000 and had stabling for 900 horses on site.

Closure

After the track failed to acquire a two-year extension of the deadline to replace its dirt oval with an artificial surface for the safety of the horses from the California Horse Racing Board, it was announced that Bay Meadows intended to close November 4, 2006 immediately following its summer-fall season. On July 3, 2007, the California Horse Racing Board unanimously voted to approve a one-year exemption for Bay Meadows to continue horse racing in 2008 on its current racing surface. Bay Meadows was open to race for its last Spring Meet, February 6, 2008, to May 11, 2008. From May 14 to August 4, simulcasting occurred in Bay Meadows every open day, with free parking on August 4, free admission on August 11, and both on August 18. There were ten final race dates run in August 2008 for the San Mateo County Fair, with the last official race occurring on August 17, 2008. The last day Bay Meadows was open for simulcasting was on August 18, 2008. An auction for Bay Meadows paintings occurred from August 23 to 25. Construction began on a housing and commercial development in September 2008. Criticism from local newspapers and community groups came when, after the demolition of the grandstand and clubhouse, debris waiting to be recycled was left in "unsightly" piles on the site for several months.

Racing

Bay Meadows had the following graded stakes events: *Grade 3 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) And the following important ungraded events. * Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint Handicap * California Oaks, called Bay Meadows Oaks

References

External links