Latonia Race Track - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Latonia Race Track on Winston Avenue in Latonia

Latonia, Kentucky

Latonia is a former city, now neighborhood of Covington in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. It was annexed to Covington in 1909.Latonia's geographical coordinates are 39.048N, 84.508W, and its elevation above sea level is 531 feet. It is entirely within the eastern time zone of the United...

(Covington

Covington, Kentucky

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 43,370 people, 18,257 households, and 10,132 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,301.3 people per square mile . There were 20,448 housing units at an average density of 1,556.5 per square mile...

) Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, six miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, was a Thoroughbred horse racing

Thoroughbred horse race

Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...

facility opened in 1883. The track hosted a spring-summer racing series and a second in late fall. It was once regarded as among the United States' top sites for racing, and drew more than 100,000 visitors annually. The 1924 Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

winner Black Gold

Black Gold (horse)

Black Gold was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 50th running of the Kentucky Derby in 1924....

ran at Latonia Race Track, and jockey

Jockey

A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

Eddie Arcaro

George Edward Arcaro , known professionally as Eddie Arcaro, was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who won more American classic races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice...

got his start there.

Latonia Derby

The track's main attraction was the annual 1½ mile Latonia Derby

Latonia Derby

The Latonia Derby was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually from 1883 through 1937 at Latonia Race Track in Latonia, Kentucky. Open to three-year-old horses, for its first 52 years the Latonia Derby was contested at a mile and a half; in 1935, the race was shortened to a mile and a...

, initially run as the "Hindoo Stakes " in honor of the great Kentucky-bred champion Hindoo

Hindoo (horse)

Hindoo was an outstanding American Thoroughbred race horse who won 30 of his 35 starts, including the Kentucky Derby, the Travers Stakes and the Clark Handicap. He later sired the Preakness Stakes winner Buddhist and the Belmont Stakes winner and Leading sire in North America, Hanover.He was a bay...

.It became so popular that in 1912 a motion picture

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

was made by Independent Motion Picture Co.

Universal Studios

Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

titled Winning the Latonia Derby that featured silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

star King Baggot

King Baggot

William King Baggot was an American actor, director and screenwriter. He was an internationally famous movie star of the silent era...

.

The inaugural 1883 Latonia Derby was won by Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

winner Leonatus

Leonatus

Leonatus was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.Leonatus was the son of Uncle John Harper's great racer and sire, Longfellow, himself the son of the imported English stud, the great Leamington...

. Future Derby winners Kingman

Kingman (horse)

Kingman was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and the winner of the 1891 Kentucky Derby, Phoenix Stakes and Latonia Derby. He holds the record for the slowest winning time ever recorded at a Kentucky Derby, at 2:52 1/4. Kingman was ridden in the Derby by Isaac Burns Murphy and was considered one...

(1891), Halma

Halma (horse)

Halma was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred in Kentucky by Eastin & Larabie, he was a son of Hanover, a three-time Leading sire in North America and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee. Grandsire Hindoo, was a Champion runner who also was inducted in the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame. Halma was...

(1895), Ben Brush (1896), Lieut. Gibson

Lieut. Gibson

Lieutenant Gibson was an American thoroughbred racehorse that was bred in Kentucky and is best remembered for winning the 1900 Kentucky Derby. His winning time of 2:06 1/4 stood as the Derby record for 11 years. Lieut. Gibson also won the Latonia Derby, Clark Stakes and the Flatbush Stakes as a...

(1900), Elwood

Elwood (horse)

Elwood was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that is best remembered for winning the 1904 Kentucky Derby and for being the first horse both bred and owned by a woman to win the Derby.-Pedigree:...

(1904), and Sir Huon

Sir Huon

Sir Huon was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that was the winner of the 1906 Kentucky Derby and Latonia Derby. Sir Huon was named after a character in the German opera Oberon and was bred at George J. Long's stud farm, Bashford Manor Stable...

(1906) also won the race and the 1918 edition was won by Harry Payne Whitney's

Harry Payne Whitney

Harry Payne Whitney was an American businessman, thoroughbred horsebreeder, and member of the prominent Whitney family.- Early years :...

Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

winning colt, Johren

Johren

Johren was a Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in the United States. His most important win came in the 1918 Belmont Stakes.-Background:...

Early airmeet

In November 1909, an airmeet was held at Latonia. The airmeet was a small affair, but included famed aviator Glenn Curtiss

Glenn Curtiss

Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle then motorcycle builder and racer, later also manufacturing engines for airships as early as 1906...

and others such as Charles Willard and Roy Knabenshue. The highlight of the meet was a race held between Curtiss and Willard "for a cup offered by the local capitalist." The meet was "understood to be the opening move to secure for Cincinnati the international aviation meet in 1910," although the meet would eventually be held in Dominguez Field, Los Angeles

1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet at Dominguez Field

The Los Angeles International Air Meet was among the earliest airshows in the world and the first major airshow in the United States. It was held in Los Angeles County, California at Dominguez Field in present day Carson, California. Spectator turnout numbered approximately 254,000 over 11 days...

instead.

1924 International Special

On October 11, 1924, 60,000 racing fans flocked to Latonia Race Track to witness the third and final edition of the International Special

International Special

The International Specials of 1924 were a series of three Thoroughbred horse races held in September and October at three different race tracks in the United States...

races that pitted the honored guest, French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

champion Epinard

Épinard

Épinard was a French Thoroughbred racehorse who was given the French name for spinach. He is considered a racing legend by French racing authority France Galop....

, against top American horses. The race featured stars of the day such as Chilhowee and Belmont Stakes

Belmont Stakes

winner Mad Play

Mad Play

Mad Play was an American-bred Thoroughbred stallion racehorse. Bred by August Belmont, Jr., he was sired by the great Fair Play, which made him a half brother to Man o' War, out of another Rock Sand mare, Mad Cap. He was a full brother to 1921 U.S...

plus future U.S. Hall of Famers

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

Princess Doreen

Princess Doreen was a Thoroughbred racehorse best known for being the top American female money-winner.Bred by John E. Madden at his stud farm, Hamburg Place, in Kentucky....

and Sarazen

Sarazen

Sarazen was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Owned by Colonel Phil T. Chinn's Himyar Stud, Sarazen won his first three starts in impressive fashion...

. It was Sarazen who won the race and with it sealed Horse of the Year

Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year

The American Award for Horse of the Year is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. It has been awarded since 1887 to the horse, irrespective of age, whose performance during the racing year is deemed the most outstanding....

honors. Epinard finished second, as he had done in the previous two International Specials at Belmont Park

Belmont Park

Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...

and Aqueduct Racetrack

Aqueduct Racetrack

Aqueduct Racetrack is a thoroughbred horse-racing facility and racino in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Its racing meets usually are from late October/early November through April.-History:...

in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

Closure

Financial difficulties during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

forced Latonia Race Track to close its doors with its last race card held on July 29, 1939. The facility was sold to Standard Oil of Ohio

Standard Oil of Ohio

Standard Oil of Ohio or Sohio was an American oil company that was acquired by British Petroleum, now called BP.It was one of the successor companies to Standard Oil after the antitrust breakup in 1911. Standard Oil of Ohio was the original Standard Oil company founded by John D. Rockefeller. It...

and dismantled during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Today the property is the site of the Latonia Shopping Center.

In 1959, a new operation called the Latonia Race Course opened in Florence, Kentucky

Florence, Kentucky

Florence is a city in Boone County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 29,951 at the 2010 census.-History:The Florence area was originally known as Crossroads, because of the convergence of several roads from Burlington and Union at Ridge Road...

about 10 miles south of the original Latonia site. In 1986 that facility changed its name to Turfway Park

Turfway Park

Turfway Park is an American horse racing track located just outside the city limits to the north of Florence, Kentucky, about 10 miles south of the Ohio River at Cincinnati...

External links

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