Fairmount Park Racetrack
Encyclopedia
| Horse Race Track | |
|---|---|
| Fairmount Park | |
| Location | Collinsville, Illinois Collinsville, Illinois Collinsville is a city located mainly in Madison County, and partially in St. Clair County, both in Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 26,016. Collinsville is approximately 12 miles from St. Louis, Missouri and is considered part of that city's Metro-East area... |
| Race type | Thoroughbred (current), harness (through 1999) |
| Principal Races | |
| St. Louis Derby (no longer run) | |
Fairmount Park Racetrack is a horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
track in Collinsville, Illinois
Collinsville, Illinois
Collinsville is a city located mainly in Madison County, and partially in St. Clair County, both in Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 26,016. Collinsville is approximately 12 miles from St. Louis, Missouri and is considered part of that city's Metro-East area...
, a part of the St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
metropolitan area. The track hosts Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
flat racing
Flat racing
Flat racing is a form of Thoroughbred horse racing which is run over a level track at a predetermined distance. It differs from steeplechase racing which is run over hurdles...
. It is one of five horse racing venues currently active in Illinois, and the only one outside the Chicago, Illinois metro area. The track also featured Standardbred harness racing
Harness racing
Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait . They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, although racing under saddle is also conducted in Europe.-Breeds:...
, but discontinued it in 1999.
The track opened in 1925. The racing surface is a one-mile (1.6 km) dirt oval, with straight chutes for six furlong
Furlong
A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to 220 yards, 660 feet, 40 rods, or 10 chains. The exact value of the furlong varies slightly among English-speaking countries....
and 1¼ mile races.
Fairmount Park offers simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
wagering from tracks throughout the country. It also operates four off-track betting
Off-track betting
Off-track betting refers to sanctioned gambling on horse racing outside a race track.-US history:...
facilities in Alton
Alton, Illinois
Alton is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 27,865 at the 2010 census. It is a part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in Southern Illinois...
, Carbondale
Carbondale, Illinois
Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, in the state of Illinois, within the Southern Illinois region. It is located at the junction of Illinois Route 13 and U.S. Route 51, southeast of St. Louis, Missouri, on the northern edge of the Shawnee National Forest...
, Springfield
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
and Sauget, Illinois
Sauget, Illinois
Sauget is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. It is part of Greater St. Louis. The population was 249 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Sauget is located at ....
; a fifth OTB facility in Grayville, Illinois
Grayville, Illinois
Grayville is a city in Edwards and White counties in Illinois. The population was 1,725 at the 2000 census. Grayville is the birthplace of naval hero James Meredith Helm.-Geography:Grayville is located at ....
closed in early 2007.
As recently as 1997, Fairmount Park offered as many as 232 live racing days per year. But in recent years, the track has suffered greatly with the advent of riverboat casino
Riverboat casino
A riverboat casino is a type of casino found in several areas of the United States which use a riverboat as a casino. Several states authorized this type of casino to limit the areas where casinos could be constructed under a type of legal fiction.-History:...
s in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Racing dates have declined to 90 per year, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
In 2007, track management announced a plan to build a 20,000-seat amphitheater at the track and expand live racing (including the reinstatement of harness racing), pending approval by state lawmakers to allow slot machine
Slot machine
A slot machine , informally fruit machine , the slots , poker machine or "pokies" or simply slot is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed...
s to be installed, similar to racino
Racino
A racino is a combined race track and casino. In some cases, the gambling is limited to slot machines, but many locations are beginning to include table games such as blackjack, poker, and roulette....
s in nearby locations. When the legislature did not approve slots in its regular session, Fairmount management applied to the Illinois Racing Board for 90 days of live racing, but said that if lawmakers did not approve relief for horse tracks in its November "veto session," the track would only run 60 days, citing declining attendance and betting handle, competition from casinos, and overpayment of the horsemen's account for purses.
On January 6, 2010 Fairmount was stripped of 49 of its 52 allotted live racing days due to the 6 member union failing to reach a compromise with track ownership. The only live racing days will be April 27th, April 30th and May 1st in 2010. The simulcasting is not expected to be affected by this ruling.
On January 25th, 2010 Fox 2 St. Louis released" It looks like the horses will run all fifty two races as originally scheduled at Fairmount Park race track. The Illinois state racing board wanted to cut the number to three. It was all based on a labor dispute with five workers. But a tentative agreement should keep Fairmount open. Illinois state representative Jay Hoffman says the racing board overstepped its bounds, "there are ways to deal with labor disputes; one of them is not jeopardizing the livelihood of families." There was a meeting on January 26, 2010 to go over the agreement.
The track's general manager claimed that purses at the track were less than half that of similar tracks in neighboring 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...
and Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. The request was granted with those conditions intact.