Hey I’m wondering if any of you ever spent time at Manor Downs, and if so what was your opinion of the facility? It’s been closed down for a while but it would be really cool to have a new, large equestrian center near Austin.
It was a QH track mostly IIRC. Only there once. It was what you’d expect for a lower tier track. Can’t remember if Texas had Pari Mutual betting back then or not but they didn’t have any marquee type stakes races that I recall back around 1980. Was there with a friend who was running a couple of colts, they disappointed and it was hot so that might color my recollection. Long haul back home. Thinking back, it was a lot nicer then Bandera Downs and the bush track circuit.
BTW, it’s locally pronounced as Main er. Small town back then, Austin area, east side I think. Once went to a Paint year end awards banquet at the Manor VFW.
Manor Downs closed the year I was living in the Austin area. I visited it exactly once, then it was closed. It was OLD. But they were simulcasting out of the facility right up to when it closed.
It reminded me more like a county fairgrounds than a racetrack… or a county fairgrounds with a racetrack.
There was still talk for a little while after that it might come back… I think that prospect is looking pretty bleak by this point. I’m surprised they haven’t developed it.
As far as I can tell, it’s still there. Land values have gone up so much, I wonder why it hasn’t been developed. Looks like there’s an irrigation tank/swamp in the middle of the track. I wonder how decrepit it is now. If I can get the owner to let me look around I’ll share pics if possible.
Google Street View goes right up to the edge of the property. Those aren’t the highest resolution images, but it doesn’t look to be in that bad of shape. There are vehicles around and what appear to be cattle grazing in the stable area, so somebody is doing something there. The imagery is only a few months old (March 2019).
