February 10, 2008
The Rillio Downs Park Racetrack - famous races are here again in February
The Rillito Downs Park Racetrack is a five-eighths mile horse race in Tucson, Arizona. The track was recently remodeled and offers Thoroughbred, Quarterhorse, and occasionally, even Arabian horse racing. The races are taking place between February the 2nd and 20th every weekend on Saturday and Sunday of 2008. You can check at the Rillito Downs Racetrack for the official schedule.
The track on the banks of the Rillito River is famous as the birthplace of many racing innovations still in use today. The Southern Arizona Horse Breeders Association, the pioneering Quarter Horse Racing organization in Tucson, has been hosting races at there at the Hacienda Moltacqua track since 1941. When Moltacqua was sold in 1943, J. Rukin Jelks volunteered to use the training track on his ranch.
Many world famous sprinters such as Shue Fly, Joe Reed ll, Piggin String, Hard Twist, Queenie, and Miss Panama have all run races a the Rillito.
An American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame inductee Melville Haskell, and Van Smelker, who later became head of the AQHA Performance Department, SAQHA experimented with grading races, weighted handicaps, futurities, derbies and stake races, and photo-electric timers at the Rillito Downs.
Filed under Blog, Tucson Events by Administrator
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