Maywood Park
Encyclopedia
| Horse Race Track | |
|---|---|
| Maywood Park | |
| Location | Melrose Park, Illinois |
| Owned by | |
| Race type | Standardbred |
| Principal Races | |
| Windy City Pace | |
| Abe Lincoln | |
| Maywood Filly Pace | |
| Galt | |
Melrose Park
-Places:In Australia:* Melrose Park, New South Wales* Melrose Park, South AustraliaIn the United States:* Melrose Park, Florida* Melrose Park, Illinois**Melrose Park , its railroad station* Melrose Park, New York...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, 17 miles from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. It is used for 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:...
. It has a capacity of 33,297 people and was built in 1946. The track is a half-mile oval.
History
Maywood Park was originally the home of Cook CountyCook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
Fairgrounds, where in 1932 and during Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition years of 1933 and 1934, non-wagering harness racing purse programs were held.
Maywood has conducted race meets with wagering since 1946, the longest in the state's standardbred history.
In June 1947 the first full harness race program to be televised anywhere in the country took place at Maywood Park, and the opening night of the 1957 spring meet was televised by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
.
In 1979, boxing champion Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
won a seven-furlong exhibition race, a fundraising event to benefit Provident Hospital of Chicago.
In 1984 Maywood Park became the first Chicago-area track to host a Breeders Crown
Breeders Crown
The Breeders Crown is an annual series of Harness races covering each of the sport's twelve traditional categories of age, gait and gender. The series was initiated by the Hambletonian Society, promoters of the Hambletonian Stakes, in 1984 to enhance the Standardbred breeding industry and to...
race. The Two-Year-Old Filly Pace Final carried a $550,000 prize, the largest purse ever offered at a Chicago area Standardbred track.
Maywood Park has been the scene of numerous world records, including She's A Great Lady's 1:51.2 mile in 1995, a record that still stands for a three-year-old filly pacer on a half-mile track.
Physical attributes
The track has a half-mile dirt oval. The track is capable of seating at least 33,297. There is stabling on the backstretchBackstretch
The Backstretch is the area in a horse racetrack where horses are stabled and the training and daily work of maintaining the horses occurs. In many race tracks it will be found directly across the track from the grandstands and may also be called "the other side of the track."-Description:A...
for 984 horses.
Racing
The following stakes are held at Maywood Park:- Windy City PaceWindy City PaceThe Windy City Pace is a harness race for 3-year-old Standardbred pacing horses. It has been run annually since 1983 at Maywood Park in Melrose Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago....
- Maywood Filly Pace
- Abe Lincoln
- GaltGalt-Biology and biochemistry:*Galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase, an enzyme*Gut-associated lymphoid tissue-People:*Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, a major figure in Canadian Confederation*James Galt, Scottish footballer*Galt MacDermot, musician...
- CinderellaCinderella"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...