The Havre de Grace Racetrack was an American 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

Race track

A race track is a purpose-built facility for racing of animals , automobiles, motorcycles or athletes. A race track may also feature grandstands or concourses. Some motorsport tracks are called speedways.A racetrack is a permanent facility or building...

 on Post Road in Havre de Grace

Havre de Grace, Maryland

Havre de Grace is a city in Harford County, Maryland, United States. Located at the mouth of the Susquehanna River and the head of the Chesapeake Bay, Havre de Grace is named after the port city of Le Havre, France, which was first named Le Havre de Grâce, meaning in French "Harbor of Grace." As...

, Harford County

Harford County, Maryland

Harford County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 244,826. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.-History:...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 which operated from August 24, 1912 to 1950. Nicknamed "The Graw," for a time it was owned by the Harford Agricultural and Breeders Association and also by the notorious gambler, Arnold Rothstein

Arnold Rothstein

Arnold Rothstein , nicknamed "The Brain", was a New York businessman and gambler who became a famous kingpin of the Jewish mafia. Rothstein was also widely reputed to have been behind baseball's Black Sox Scandal, in which the 1919 World Series was fixed...

.

On September 29, 1920, the great Man o' War

Man O' War

Man O' War, man o' war or manowar may refer to:* Man-of-war, a warship* Man of war for uses with this spelling - Places :...

 won the Potomac Handicap

Potomac Handicap

The Potomac Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in the latter part of September at Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Open to three-year-old horses, it was raced on dirt at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth....

 at Havre de Grace. His son, U.S. Triple Crown winner, War Admiral

War Admiral

War Admiral was an American thoroughbred racehorse, the offspring of the great thoroughbred Man o' War and the mare Brushup. He inherited his father's fiery temperament and talent, but did not resemble him physically...

, won his first race here on April 25, 1936. The Havre de Grace Handicap

Havre de Grace Handicap

The Havre de Grace Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. The inaugural race was run in the first year the track opened in 1912. It was open to horses three years old and upward and raced at a distance of 1 1/8...

 was one of the important races in the American northeast for many years whose winners include U.S. Racing Hall of Fame

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...

 inductees Roamer, Crusader

Crusader (horse)

Crusader was a chestnut Thoroughbred colt sired by Man o' War from the mare Star Fancy. Bred by Samuel D. Riddle, he was raced by his Glen Riddle Farm and was ridden by Earl Sande and Albert Johnson....

, Seabiscuit

Seabiscuit

Seabiscuit was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse in the United States. From an inauspicious start, Seabiscuit became an unlikely champion and a symbol of hope to many Americans during the Great Depression...

, Sun Beau

Sun Beau

Sun Beau was an American Thoroughbred Champion Hall of Fame racehorse. Sired by Sun Briar, his damsire was Fair Play who sired Man o' War. Sun Beau accomplished a great deal in five years of racing despite having eight different trainers....

, Equipoise

Equipoise (horse)

Equipoise was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse, a chestnut bred in the United States by Harry Payne Whitney and owned by his son, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney...

, and Challedon

Challedon

Challedon was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred in Maryland by William L. Brann and Robert S. Castle, he raced under the colors of their Branncastle Farm....

. As well, some great Hall of Fame horses lost this race. In the 1919 running, Cudgel

Cudgel (horse)

Cudgel was an American two-time Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.Owned by J. K. L. Ross and trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee H. Guy Bedwell, Cudgel is probably best remembered for his win in the 1919 Havre de Grace Handicap in which he defeated two future Hall of Fame inductees,...

 beat two Hall of Famers in the form of Exterminator

Exterminator (horse)

Exterminator was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and the winner of the 1918 Kentucky Derby, and in 1922 won Horse of the Year honors....

 and Triple Crown champion, Sir Barton

Sir Barton

Sir Barton, , was a chestnut thoroughbred colt who in 1919 became the first winner of the American Triple Crown.He was sired by leading stud Star Shoot out of the Hanover mare Lady Sterling. His grandsire was the 1893 English Triple Crown champion, Isinglass.Sir Barton was bred in Kentucky by...

.

Located halfway between the cities of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C, in the 1940s the Havre de Grace Racetrack faced increased competition from Delaware Park Racetrack and Garden State Park Racetrack in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. The racetrack began losing customers and by 1949 its owners were forced to turn over some of their allotted racing days to Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course

Pimlico Race Course

Pimlico Race Course is a horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Olde Ben Pimlico's Tavern in London...

. In January 1951 the Havre de Grace Racetrack was sold to Alfred G. Vanderbilt II

Alfred G. Vanderbilt II

Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II was a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, a son of the first Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt who died a hero in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. His mother, Margaret Emerson, was one of America's wealthiest women and most sought-after hostesses, operating at least...

, owner of Pimlico Race Course, and Morris Schapiro

Morris Schapiro

Morris Abraham Schapiro was an American investment banker and chess master.He was born in Lithuania in 1903 and came to the United States in 1907. He entered Columbia University on a Pulitzer Scholarship and led the university chess team to four national championships...

 of Laurel Park Racecourse who closed the facility and transferred the track's racing allotment dates to their own tracks.

Selected major races held at Havre de Grace Racetrack:

• Eastern Shore Stakes
• Havre de Grace Handicap
  Havre de Grace Handicap
  The Havre de Grace Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. The inaugural race was run in the first year the track opened in 1912. It was open to horses three years old and upward and raced at a distance of 1 1/8...
  
  
• Potomac Handicap
  Potomac Handicap
  The Potomac Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in the latter part of September at Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Open to three-year-old horses, it was raced on dirt at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth....
  
  

The Havre de Grace Racetrack is now the property of the Maryland National Guard who use the grandstand as their offices.