And Another One Bites the Dust

The Hazel Park Raceway in Hazel Park, MI has closed after nearly 70 years. It's really hard to see it go. 
Small race tracks just don't seem to be making it these days. They had just started thoroughbred racing again after only doing harness racing for the longest time. The closest track to us now is only harness. 

I wish horse racing would make a come back, sad to see a sport slowly die like this.

Last edited on 2018-04-17 at 08:07:59 by Papercut Skins

that's too bad. There's a racetrack close to us here actually. Me and Dad usually go watch the races on the weekends in the summer, and last summer they actually hosted the Alberta Derby there. It's pretty cool, and they have both TB and Quarter Horse races at this track.

That's sad that it closed down. Horse racing has so much history tied up in it - both the horses and people involved as well as the tracks themselves.

What's worse is they announced the closing a day after the horses shipped in. So all these owners spent their entire winter training, paid to ship in, only to have to ship them right back out. There's no other thoroughbred tracks in Michigan either. I feel so bad for the families. 

That is sad to hear. I have always loved horse racing and it sucks that it does not seem as popular as it once was. 

As a person who comes from a very big horse racing family, I am sad to hear that. It also is horrible for those owners and trainers paying for and handling those horses... It hurts both of them. 

I'm not 100% certain it's so much that horseracing is losing popularity as much as it is the smaller tracks that can't make it. I do think that horseracing isn't AS big as it once was prior to television and different ways to gamble, etc, but I live by a fairly decent sized track and it is doing great. I just think all the money for horseracing is going to the bigger tracks than the smaller ones. 

There's one a few minutes from my house. And from what I understand, it was pretty popular back in the "old days". They closed it for a while, but then would re-open for a few weekends every spring. Now, sadly, it's closed permanently.