The Rillito Racetrack, a 蜜柚直播 sports and entertainment treasure since its 1943 opening as the birthplace of modern quarter horse racing, has now gone two years without any racing.
Red Hot Kat looks out from its stall at Rillito Park Racetrack on March 4, 2022.
There is, however, a path to resuscitate horse racing in the greater 蜜柚直播 area and at the same time allow for expansion of the heavily-used soccer facilities at Rillito Regional Park.
蜜柚直播 attorney Ted Schmidt, immediate past president of FC 蜜柚直播 Youth and commissioner to the Pima County Parks and Recreation commission, says it can be a win-win for soccer and horse racing.
With about $500,000 of improvements and upgrades committed from Pima County, the race track is expected to be put back in safe operating order for two or three years while searching for a new facility, most likely in a suburban setting while a pursuit for private developers/investors is executed.
People are also reading…
鈥淭here are not enough soccer fields in 蜜柚直播; a third of the property at Rillito goes unused for about nine months of the year,鈥 said Schmidt, who is working for the greater good. 鈥淏ut I also believe a new horse racing facility could become the premier horse racing facility in the Southwest.鈥
In a statement last week, Pima County administrator Jan Lesher said that 鈥渨hile there will be a small group who believe that horseracing must be at Rillito, it seems most simply want horseracing to continue in Pima County regardless of the location. With that understanding, we can build towards a solution while also allowing for the expansion of the soccer, farmers market and general recreational amenities at Rillito Regional Park.鈥
Lesher said, 鈥淚 believe the best approach may be to identify a way to allow horseracing to continue at Rillito for a very limited period of time while the County identifies private sector partners to construct a new destination horse racing complex.鈥
