They fell the fresh new inside the 1963

Woodbine Racetrack was a race track to own Thoroughbred horse rushing in the the new Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Activity Group, Woodbine Racetrack takes care of and you can hosts Canada’s most famous battle, the latest King’s Plate. The fresh tune was unsealed for the 1956 having a-one-kilometer oval mud tune, as well as a great seven-eights lawn way. [ one ] It’s been widely refurbished as the 1993, and because 1994 has received around three racecourses. [ 2 ]

Records

The present day Woodbine deal the name originally used by good racetrack which manage inside the southeast Toronto, from House Casino online the Queen Street East and Kingston Path, from 1874 because of 1993. (As the Old Woodbine Race-course was at the fresh new southern area prevent regarding Woodbine Path, the current Woodbine is actually nowhere near they.) Inside the 1951, it absolutely was work from the Ontario Jockey Pub (OJC) and kept the brand new esteemed King’s Plate, it competed with lots of most other racetracks for the Ontario and you will was needing modernization. [ twenty-three ]

P. Taylor, first started a course regarding racetrack acquisitions geared towards becoming the biggest and most successful user inside Ontario horse racing, similar to Taylor’s prior to acquisitions and consolidations regarding Canadian brewing community. Within the 1952, the newest OJC bought and you may closed the money-dropping Thorncliffe Playground, [ 4 ] purchased and closed the new Hamilton Racetrack, and you will purchased the new Fort Erie Racetrack to own California$780,000 . [ 4 ] Home improvements began immediately within Fort Erie at Woodbine, funded of the a general public giving from inventory to own California$2 million . [ twenty-three ]

During the 1953, the fresh new OJC bought Stamford Park inside Stamford township (today section of Niagara Drops, Ontario). It had been finalized and soon after redeveloped to the a residential subdivision. Inside 1955, Taylor himself bought the newest contending Orpen-owned Dufferin Park Racetrack and Long Department Racetracks to possess Ca$4 billion ($49.six million for the 2023 cash) [ 5 ] . [ 6 ] The brand new Orpen tunes was in fact signed and you can redeveloped, and Orpen battle charters moved to the brand new OJC. The new OJC went on the fresh new Canadian Around the world and you may Cup and saucer limits events that had been kept within Orpen tracks. [ eight ] The latest racing charters gotten from the most other songs let the latest OJC to run 196 times of racing, more twice the acceptance overall from 84 months inside 1952. [ twenty three ]

Most of the services in the racetrack purchases and you will closures was in fact designed to help with a different “supertrack”. For the 1952, the fresh new OJC identified the newest location of the racetrack at Highway twenty-seven eastern of your own Toronto airport and you may bought over 400 acres (160 ha). The fresh designer chosen is actually Earle C. Morgan. Whether or not Morgan hadn’t tailored a racetrack, he invested the following 2 yrs development the proper execution hand-in-hand which have Arthur Froelich, who’d tailored Movie industry Park Racetrack and you can Yard State Playground Racetrack in the united states. [ 8 ] The fresh new tune was created to hold 40,000 spectators, features good vehicle parking, about three competition programs and two studies tracks. They had stable space for one,000 ponies and you may bedroom getting 700 staff. The latest grandstand, made to rating as many folks as close for the become range that you can, integrated several food and cafeterias. [ 9 ] Framework towards the brand new supertrack first started inside 1955.

The brand new racetrack started to your June several, 1956, centered at a cost out of Ca$thirteen billion ($143 million inside 2023 dollars). [ 5 ] [ ten ] It was very first referred to as The fresh Woodbine Racetrack. The existing track is actually changed into a mixed thoroughbred and you can standardbred tune known thereafter since Dated Woodbine or, for many of one’s rest of their record, because the Greenwood Raceway (through the standardbred matches) and Greenwood Race track (during the thoroughbred matches). The two thoroughbred as well as 2 standardbred matches conducted in the Greenwood were moved to the fresh Woodbine for the 1994, that has been before this exclusively centered on thoroughbred racing. To your June 30, 1959, King Age II and the Duke away from Edinburgh attended the brand new 100th running of your Queen’s Dish, [ 11 ] and Queen E II once more for the , went to the newest 151st running of one’s Queen’s Plate Bet and displayed trophies.