Does this sound slightly promising for Bowie, perhaps?
At the expense of Pimlico. MJC has no interest in maintaining 3 properties. I think they would rather keep Pimlico open and get rid of Bowie, but are waiting to see what shakes down with the financial position of keeping Pimlico open. If they can’t get the state or city to fund renovations at Pimlico, they will close Pimlico and reopen Bowie.
Thanks for your input, PB! I read it the same way, also, but wanted to check my interpretation.
I would be very surprised if horses return to Bowie. The community isn’t interested. Why should they. The place has been an eye sore for YEARS. With nothing but broken promises to the community.
I grew up going to Bowie. Beautiful track and barn area. Hadn’t been there since the grandstand was torn down in the early 80s? We sent a couple of horses to a trainer who operated out of the “training center”. I was SHOCKED at what the place looked like when I went to watch ours train 5+ years ago. SHOCKED.
The barn area had turned into a sh*t hole. In its day the track kitchen was a great place to hang out. It hadn’t been used in years, falling down. Everything was falling down. It will take a ton of money to fix the place up. They never even finished/cleaned up the grandstand demo area. They left a staircase to nowhere still in place. I hated going there. Heart breaking. I’m glad we didn’t have any new owners as partners it would have been embarrassing. Spending $3-4,000 a month to hang out in a junk yard.
Gumtree, I was equally horrified at the condition of Bowie when I went there about 3 years ago. I had been in the early 90s to see some workouts and thought it was pretty decent. But wow did it decline. I couldn’t believe there were backstretch workers living there. I felt so bad for them.
Thanks so much GT and Saratoga!
“I grew up going to Bowie. Beautiful track and barn area.”
It seems or I get the feeling that it was pretty cute/nice at one time. The bridge is kinda interesting. Did the horses cope with that well, I wonder?
(I have a thing/fascination with defunct raceways and love photographing them.)
Say, I had wanted to ask if anyone knows what became of Angelico who used to post here? I loved her enthusiasm and great knowledge.
Hard to believe the remnants of the original 1914 course still exists. Been some years since I have been there. I read recently about the further restoration of Belair near Bowie, which by the way is a historic town by its own right.
http://www.somdhorsetrails.smadc.com/bowie-racetrack-and-covered-bridge/
The track itself would need an overhaul to train on it again. Most trainers felt it was too dangerous of a surface to work on so they routinely shipped to Laurel to work.
I had gone to look at Harve de Grace and it is exactly as below:
“The clubhouse still stands today and serves as National Guard offices. The lower grandstand has been converted to a warehouse for the Guard’s armory.”
I thought, from what I had read, the Bel Air track is now the Harford Mall?
Your kindly provided link does not work, SD.
“The bridge is kinda interesting. Did the horses cope with that well, I wonder?”
For those who have never been there. There is a high arching wooden bridge that goes over the road between the stabling area and the racetrack.
It’s pretty cool. But I did wonder how my horses were going to handle it the first time. They had been trained on my farm and were ready to roll when I took them there. Nervously watched, maybe not as much at the rider, walk over. Didn’t seem to turn a hair. Probably because there was so much going on that they had never experienced their minds were on other things.
Belair is no where near Bowie. Bowie is about an hour or so south. Belair is north of Baltimore not far off of I-95.
The Belair “racetrack” is under the mall. The old racetrack/grandstand grounds behind the mall is/was still being used for horse activities.
I’ve read conflicting dates of when Belair closed. Some say 1960 some 66. But I seem to remember going to Belair as a young kid. My mother and step dad lived in the area and had a mom and pop training outfit after they switched from show horses. I would have only been 4 in 1960. Kind of young to remember. But having grown up going to, hanging out at the racetrack. I don’t remember my “first time”. Just seemed like that’s what we always did from the “get go”. Flat racing or jump racing. Didn’t every kid? lol.
This is a picture from the Timonium state fair races. The last of the “small” tracks that is still around. 1971, my mom and sister at the horse’s head, my step day hold a Racing Form and some of their/our racing friends.
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I assumed they were talking about a different Belair because the Bel Air racetrack was not restored and has been a mall for decades.
The Belair “racetrack” is under the mall. The old racetrack/grandstand grounds behind the mall is/was still being used for horse activities.
I’ve read conflicting dates of when Belair closed. Some say 1960 some 66. But I seem to remember going to Belair as a young kid. My mother and step dad lived in the area and had a mom and pop training outfit after they switched from show horses. I would have only been 4 in 1960. Kind of young to remember. But having grown up going to, hanging out at the racetrack. I don’t remember my “first time”. Just seemed like that’s what we always did from the “get go”. Flat racing or jump racing. Didn’t every kid? lol.
Maybe. Didn’t know there was another one/place called Belair. But I’m not a Maryland historian. Just a native.
As far as I know there isn’t anywhere called Belair in Maryland but they could be talking about something else so wasn’t sure. I just so happen to live in Bel Air, got a pedicure at the mall yesterday in fact!
Nice of you to explain the bridge. Thanks!
Photo of Bowie bridge:
You all, don’t be so quick to pounce. I was referring to the Belair Stable Museum and should have used the word renovation not restoration. We can all agree that City of Bowie operates the museum.
That’s why I said it may be something different than the Bel Air race track.
No pouncing intended here, for sure. I was inquiring as I had to find out if there was another old raceway I could photograph.
“Belair Stable Museum”
I visited this. There was a plaque there with Nashua’s shoes on it. I ran my hands over them and kinda got the goosebumps.
