Rockingham Park, New Hampshire, which opened in 1906 with the first thoroughbred racetrack in New England, will cease operations for good on August 31. It hasn’t operated since 2002 except to offer simulcast wagering, but with the announcement of the sale of the property on May 27, its fate as a racetrack was sealed.
The 120-acre property has been sold to a local businessman, Joe Faro. This completes his purchase. He bought 50 acres 18 months ago for $9.6 million and has already torn down the barns, dormitories and other buildings associated with the racetrack.
The last simulcasting and charitable gaming will end on August 31. The historical track was once a stronghold of racing. A large percentage of the jockeys and trainers who can be found in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame competed at the track.
For twenty years the owners of the track attempted to persuade lawmakers to allow it to deploy slot machines. The conversion to become “racinos” has saved many a racetrack over the years, but Rockingham was not fated to be one of them.
The best year before Rockingham began its long decline was 1991, the year that Connecticut’s two Indian casinos opened. That year the racetrack brought in $200 million in live and simulcast racing. By 2006 those numbers had dropped to $75 million and to $27,522,000 in 2015.
Triple Crown winners associated with Rockingham include Eddie Arcaro, who rode Whirlaway (1941) and Citation (1948), Johnny Longden (Count Fleet, 1943), Ron Turcotte (Secretariat, 1973), and Jean Cruget (Seattle Slew, 1977).
Trainers associated with Triple Crown winners include “Sunny” Jim Fitzsimmons (Gallant Fox, 1930; Omaha, 1935), Ben Jones (Whirlaway, 1941), Max Hirsch (Assault, 1946), Horace Jones (Citation, 1948), Lucien Laurin (Secretariat, 1973) and Lazaro Barrera (Affirmed, 1978).
The management of the track expects to auction equipment, furniture and memorabilia on September 24-25, with racing memorabilia, trophies, and artwork with great historical significance to be donated to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame among others.
President and general manager Ed Callahan told Blood Horse last week, “The closure of the racetrack is coming way too quickly, that’s for sure, but what can you do? Now it’s onward and upward.” Callahan has operated the track since the current owners purchased it in 1982.
The racetrack’s ultimate fate is completely divorced from thoroughbred racing. Faro, the owner of Tuscan Brands, a chain of Italian restaurants and markets, plans to develop part of the property into a “Tuscan Village,” that will include townhouses, luxury apartments, a hotel, cinema, bowling alley and office and retail.
