Horse Racing at Rillito Park Racetrack
In 2006 the Pima County Board of Supervisors appointed people representing the
horse world, soccer and other community activities to a committee to come up with
recommendations for the long term use of the Rillito Racetrack. Among other things, the
committee recommended unanimously that horse racing stay at Rillito until another
track is built.
On August 1, 2006 the four members of the Board of Supervisors present approved and
accepted that recommendation. We thank them for their support of horse racing.
Part of our racetrack is designated a National Historic Site. Innovations and procedures
implemented here have been adopted at racetracks throughout our country and around
the world. Part of the movie Seabiscuit was filmed here. Mo Udall flew here in a
helicopter so that he could be the first person to sign our initiative to preserve this
facility. He understood history.
Tucson was part of Mexico 161 years ago. Over the years, Tucson has become known
nationally as a community that destroys its history, recent and past. Where are the
Barrio Viejo, the presidio walls, and the Blackwell house?
We have a rich Hispanic culture and history. The racetrack is a microcosm of our
community-you need only read the names of the trainers, jockeys and owners to realize
the historical significance of the site.
Yet at the same time we need more athletic fields. Children in organized sports rarely
encounter law enforcement issues. There are hundreds of vacant government owned
lands available. Let's start using them for our children.
We have set up this web site to provide the history of this track. We will provide data that
nobody has written about, including attempts to sell the track, and bogus efforts to
condemn the facility.
We intend to support soccer fields, history, and the intelligent multi-purpose use of this
racetrack.
In 2006 the Pima County Board of Supervisors appointed people representing the
horse world, soccer and other community activities to a committee to come up with
recommendations for the long term use of the Rillito Racetrack. Among other things, the
committee recommended unanimously that horse racing stay at Rillito until another
track is built.
On August 1, 2006 the four members of the Board of Supervisors present approved and
accepted that recommendation. We thank them for their support of horse racing.
Part of our racetrack is designated a National Historic Site. Innovations and procedures
implemented here have been adopted at racetracks throughout our country and around
the world. Part of the movie Seabiscuit was filmed here. Mo Udall flew here in a
helicopter so that he could be the first person to sign our initiative to preserve this
facility. He understood history.
Tucson was part of Mexico 161 years ago. Over the years, Tucson has become known
nationally as a community that destroys its history, recent and past. Where are the
Barrio Viejo, the presidio walls, and the Blackwell house?
We have a rich Hispanic culture and history. The racetrack is a microcosm of our
community-you need only read the names of the trainers, jockeys and owners to realize
the historical significance of the site.
Yet at the same time we need more athletic fields. Children in organized sports rarely
encounter law enforcement issues. There are hundreds of vacant government owned
lands available. Let's start using them for our children.
We have set up this web site to provide the history of this track. We will provide data that
nobody has written about, including attempts to sell the track, and bogus efforts to
condemn the facility.
We intend to support soccer fields, history, and the intelligent multi-purpose use of this
racetrack.
| SaveRillitoRacetrack.com |
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Looks like the ponies will keep running at Rillito Park Race Track
April 30, 2009
B. POOLE
Tucson Citizen
Rillito Park Race Track will apparently get a reprieve, possibly as long as four years, while
Pima County tries to come up with money to convert the North Side track to a soccer
facility.
"At this point, that's the only thing that's saving us. They don't have enough money to tear it
down," said Bill Matthews, who runs the nonprofit Save Rillito Race Track.(
Saverillitoracetrack.com ).
Rillito has been on thin ice since the county supervisors agreed in 2006 to turn the track
into an 18-field soccer complex. In 1984, voters guaranteed horse racing a home at the
North First Avenue facility south of River Road for 25 years - through Dec. 31, 2009.
Shortly before the end of what was to be the track's last racing season in February, County
Administrator Chuck Huckelberry told the Pima County Horsemen's Association it would
likely be able to keep the track open for "three or four years," said Pat White, the group's
president.
Huckelberry did not iThe prospect of having a 2010 season at Rillito had the Horsemen's
Association busy in recent weeks. The group poured $55,000 into painting and repairing
windows, railings and stairways. mmediately return a telephone call seeking comment
Thursday. A crew of seven also screened in the grandstand to keep birds out and
recoated the reflective roof, said Bonnie White-McDaniel, who supervised the work..
"We've been doing this for five weeks," White-McDaniel said.
To prepare for the JanuaThe track opened in 1943 and is part of the nation's "county fair"
racing circuit. The five-eighths-mile oval features the first quarter horse chute, or starting
system, in the nation. ry start of the season, more repairs will be made this fall, she said.
The chute is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 2009 season featured 11 days of racing on weekends in January and February. The
track drew more than 9,000 fans on the next to last day and 10,000 on the final race day.
It's a likely attendance record, White said.
"We've had seven and eight before," she said, "but never nine and 10."
Funding for the soccer fields and a new race track at the Pima County Fairgrounds, on
Houghton Road south of Interstate 10, would come from an unscheduled bond election.
The Horsemen's Association has tried to find private backers for the track but none has
emerged.
April 30, 2009
B. POOLE
Tucson Citizen
Rillito Park Race Track will apparently get a reprieve, possibly as long as four years, while
Pima County tries to come up with money to convert the North Side track to a soccer
facility.
"At this point, that's the only thing that's saving us. They don't have enough money to tear it
down," said Bill Matthews, who runs the nonprofit Save Rillito Race Track.(
Saverillitoracetrack.com ).
Rillito has been on thin ice since the county supervisors agreed in 2006 to turn the track
into an 18-field soccer complex. In 1984, voters guaranteed horse racing a home at the
North First Avenue facility south of River Road for 25 years - through Dec. 31, 2009.
Shortly before the end of what was to be the track's last racing season in February, County
Administrator Chuck Huckelberry told the Pima County Horsemen's Association it would
likely be able to keep the track open for "three or four years," said Pat White, the group's
president.
Huckelberry did not iThe prospect of having a 2010 season at Rillito had the Horsemen's
Association busy in recent weeks. The group poured $55,000 into painting and repairing
windows, railings and stairways. mmediately return a telephone call seeking comment
Thursday. A crew of seven also screened in the grandstand to keep birds out and
recoated the reflective roof, said Bonnie White-McDaniel, who supervised the work..
"We've been doing this for five weeks," White-McDaniel said.
To prepare for the JanuaThe track opened in 1943 and is part of the nation's "county fair"
racing circuit. The five-eighths-mile oval features the first quarter horse chute, or starting
system, in the nation. ry start of the season, more repairs will be made this fall, she said.
The chute is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 2009 season featured 11 days of racing on weekends in January and February. The
track drew more than 9,000 fans on the next to last day and 10,000 on the final race day.
It's a likely attendance record, White said.
"We've had seven and eight before," she said, "but never nine and 10."
Funding for the soccer fields and a new race track at the Pima County Fairgrounds, on
Houghton Road south of Interstate 10, would come from an unscheduled bond election.
The Horsemen's Association has tried to find private backers for the track but none has
emerged.