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History See other History Articles Title: CURTAIN COMES DOWN ON BAY MEADOWS Bay Meadows' 74-year-long existence came to an end on Sunday evening. Bringing down the curtain, not only on the San Mateo County Fair, but on an era in California racing history, was the aptly named $63,450 Last Dance S. Just as appropriately, YOU LIFT ME UP (Lord Carson), from the barn of perennial Northern California kingpin Jerry Hollendorfer, rolled to a 2 1/2-length score. With Frank Alvarado in the irons, the sophomore filly negotiated 1 1/16 miles on the firm Longden Turf Course in 1:44 2/5 in the last race ever conducted at the historic facility. Bay Meadows owed its existence as a racetrack to William P. Kyne. In the wake of his tireless efforts, pari-mutuel wagering was legalized in California in 1933, and Kyne set his sights on building a new racing facility. To this end, he purchased the old Curtiss-Wright airfield on the south side of San Mateo, California. The ground-breaking took place on April 8, 1934, and the track celebrated its opening day on November 3 of that year, with 15,000 patrons in attendance. It was named Bay Meadows because the land had once been a meadow, and it was near San Francisco Bay. Kyne's work was not yet finished. When the United States was embroiled in World War II, Bay Meadows and all of the other West Coast tracks were ordered to close. Kyne persuaded the authorities to allow Bay Meadows to remain open, but only by agreeing to a series of stipulations, including handing over 92 percent of its profits to the war effort. Because of wartime gas and rubber rationing, fans were not allowed to travel by car or bus to the track, relying instead on horse- and mule-drawn wagons. Bay Meadows played an important role on the home front by supporting war bond drives and entertaining the troops, among other initiatives. As a result of its operation during the war years, Bay Meadows was the longest continuously operating racetrack in California. Bay Meadows was notable in racing history in other respects as well. It was the first track to employ the Puett electric starting gate, and the first track in California to implement the totalizator system, photo-finish camera, the daily double and nighttime racing. In 1945, El Lobo became the first horse to be transported by air to a racetrack, taking off from Los Angeles and landing in the Bay Meadows parking lot. The next day, El Lobo captured the Inaugural H. Many of the sport's leading lights graced the stage at Bay Meadows -- the legendary Seabiscuit, who won the Bay Meadows H. in 1937 and 1938; 1948 Triple Crown conqueror Citation and his Calumet stablemate Coaltown; Citation's nemesis, *Noor; Round Table; Native Diver; Majestic Prince; John Henry; Lady's Secret; Cigar; and the ill-fated Lost in the Fog. Two of the world's winningest jockeys have strong ties to Bay Meadows. Hall of Famer Bill Shoemaker began his career galloping horses at this venue, and he won his first stakes races here in 1949. Russell Baze was responsible for one of the landmark moments in Bay Meadows history. On December 1, 2006, he earned his 9,531st career victory when piloting Butterfly Belle (Wavering Monarch) to a 2 1/4-length tally in the 4TH race. In the process, Baze surpassed Laffit Pincay Jr. as North America's all-time winningest rider. No longer will Bay Meadows contribute to racing history, for the site will now be developed into housing, retail and office space. Given my druthers, I'd druther have the history over the progressive. Another sad day in history.........especially when you learn that someone is trying mightily to re-open the lovely old Hialeah Race Track in Florida.
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#1. To: rowdee (#0)
I missed this news item for some reason. Thanks for posting it. Ellis Park had a minor crisis at the start of the season; it had to be about money. It opened a week late and the rest is history.
I had read about Ellis Park's problem. Bay Meadows was facing spending some major bucks on the fake racing surface, and, knowing Californicate, the area's city fathers would have had hurdles, hoops, and loops to jump through in order to upgrade, or relocate facilities. I think this was one of Stronach's deals.
I thought all the historical information was interesting. I knew most, if not all, or nearly all tracks had to close during the war years, so this was a unique way to get around that--just pay em off. Goodness knows, political hacks are still not adverse to that--just pay enough fees and all is well.
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