For the 1950s, the fresh OJC, underneath the management out of Canadian industrialist and you may pony breeder E

It dropped the fresh new in the 1963

Woodbine Racetrack are a race track having Thoroughbred horse racing in the the new qbet Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Amusement Class, Woodbine Racetrack takes care of and you may machines Canada’s most well-known race, the brand new King’s Plate. The newest song try unsealed for the 1956 that have a-one-mile oval mud track, and a great eight-eights turf direction. [ 1 ] This has been widely renovated since 1993, and since 1994 has received about three racecourses. [ 2 ]

Background

The present day Woodbine sells the name in the first place employed by good racetrack hence operated for the the southern area of Toronto, from the King Path East and you may Kingston Path, off 1874 owing to 1993. (Since Dated Woodbine Race course is at the fresh southern avoid regarding Woodbine Avenue, the current Woodbine is no place near they.) Within the 1951, it was run of the Ontario Jockey Pub (OJC) and you will kept the newest esteemed King’s Plate, however it competed with many different most other racetracks inside the Ontario and is actually needing adaptation. [ twenty three ]

P. Taylor, began an application out of racetrack purchases intended for become the largest and more than winning driver for the Ontario pony rushing, like Taylor’s prior to acquisitions and you will consolidations in the Canadian preparing industry. Inside the 1952, the fresh OJC purchased and signed the money-shedding Thorncliffe Park, [ 4 ] ordered and closed the brand new Hamilton Racetrack, and you will ordered the latest Fort Erie Racetrack for California$780,000 . [ 4 ] Home improvements first started quickly from the Fort Erie and also at Woodbine, financed because of the a general public giving from stock having Ca$2 mil . [ twenty three ]

During the 1953, the new OJC ordered Stamford Park inside Stamford township (now section of Niagara Drops, Ontario). It was finalized and soon after redeveloped on the a domestic subdivision. In the 1955, Taylor himself bought the new competing Orpen-possessed Dufferin Playground Racetrack and you may Enough time Branch Racetracks getting Ca$four mil ($forty-two.6 million inside the 2023 cash) [ 5 ] . [ six ] The brand new Orpen tunes were finalized and you can redeveloped, plus the Orpen competition charters gone to live in the new OJC. The latest OJC continued the fresh new Canadian Globally and you may Cup-and-saucer stakes events that had been stored at the Orpen songs. [ 7 ] The brand new race charters gotten in the almost every other songs allowed the latest OJC to perform 196 days of racing, more than twice their allowed total regarding 84 months inside the 1952. [ twenty three ]

The efforts during the racetrack acquisitions and you can closures had been tailored to support an alternative “supertrack”. In the 1952, the fresh new OJC identified the fresh located area of the racetrack in the Path 27 eastern of your own Toronto airport and you can purchased over 400 acres (160 ha). The newest architect selected is Earle C. Morgan. Even when Morgan hadn’t tailored a great racetrack, the guy spent the next couple of years development the form together having Arthur Froelich, who had tailored Hollywood Playground Racetrack and Garden State Playground Racetrack in the usa. [ 8 ] The newest tune was created to hold 40,000 visitors, provides large parking, three battle courses and two knowledge songs. They had steady area for starters,000 ponies and you can room to own 700 professionals. The new grandstand, designed to get as many individuals as close towards wind up range as you are able to, integrated numerous dining and you may cafeterias. [ 9 ] Framework to the the fresh new supertrack began inside the 1955.

The newest racetrack opened to the Summer a dozen, 1956, based at a cost of Ca$13 billion ($143 billion in the 2023 dollars). [ 5 ] [ 10 ] It was initial known as the The latest Woodbine Racetrack. The old track are converted to a mixed thoroughbred and you may standardbred song understood afterwards since the Old Woodbine or, for the majority of your rest of its records, as the Greenwood Raceway (throughout the standardbred meets) and Greenwood Race-track (through the thoroughbred matches). The two thoroughbred and two standardbred suits conducted during the Greenwood was basically moved to the latest Woodbine during the 1994, which had been before this only based on thoroughbred race. Towards June thirty, 1959, Queen E II and the Duke of Edinburgh went to the fresh new 100th powering of Queen’s Plate, [ 11 ] and you can Queen Elizabeth II again for the , attended the new 151st running of Queen’s Plate Bet and you will shown trophies.