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Fort Erie Race Track is a
horse racingHorse 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...
facility in
Fort Erie, OntarioFort Erie is a town on the Niagara River in the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly across the river from Buffalo, New York....
,
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
built by the Fort Erie Jockey Club and inaugurated on June 16, 1897.
Fort Erie Race Track was at one time owned by the Cella family, who owned
Oaklawn ParkOaklawn Park is an American thoroughbred racetrack in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is the home to The Racing Festival of the South.In 2009, the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating system for 65 Thoroughbred racetracks in North America. Of the top Ten, Oaklawn was ranked...
in
Hot Springs, ArkansasHot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
. They sold it in the early 1950s to renowned Canadian horseman
E. P. TaylorEdward Plunket Taylor was a Canadian business tycoon and famous breeder of thoroughbred race horses. Known to his friends as "Eddie", he is universally recorded as "E. P...
. The owner of
Windfields FarmWindfields Farm is a six square kilometre thoroughbred horse breeding farm founded by businessman E. P. Taylor in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The first stable and breeding operation of E. P. Taylor originated with a property near the city of Toronto known as Parkwood Stable when it was owned by...
, Taylor played a key role in the development of the track. He was responsible for the creation of the Canadian Triple Crown with the second leg of the series, the
Grade IA graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...
Prince of Wales StakesThe Prince of Wales Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Fort Erie Race Track in Fort Erie, Ontario. Restricted to three-year-old horses bred in Canada, it is contested on dirt over a distance of a mile and three sixteenths . In 1959, the Prince of Wales Stakes became the...
, being the track's most important annual event.