Remembering Roosevelt on what would have been its 75th year
June 7, 2014,by Fred Hudson
Huntington Station, NY — If Roosevelt Raceway had remained open, 2014 would have marked its 75th year of racing.
On Sept. 2, 1940, Roosevelt opened its doors and conducted its first race. It was also (at that time) the longest harness meet (27 days) ever conducted. Prior to that, most harness meets were conducted at State Fairs for either one or two weeks.
What a year it is for the memory of this once great track that was once called “The World Capital of Harness Racing.”
The Meadowlands on May 17 had a Roosevelt Raceway Legacy Night that brought in an extremely large crowd of fans and harness racing enthusiasts. Being there I noticed that a lot of the fans came very well prepared, bringing with them old programs and photos of the drivers and trainers that were on hand to sign autographs.
On the upcoming July 4th weekend the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame will open the Roosevelt Raceway Legacy Exhibit. Many of the items that will be on display were rescued by the museum from the trash dumpsters at the track. The management of the track, as an afterthought, called the museum up and gave them a very short period of time to salvage what they could.
One of the items that they salvaged/saved from the trash was the oil portrait of the track’s founder, George Morton Levy, which they restored and it now proudly hangs in the museum.
Other Roosevelt Raceway items were donated by former horsemen and women that had once raced at Roosevelt.
Also this fall the Roosevelt Raceway book “Roosevelt Raceway Where It All Began,” which I am privileged and honored to be a co-author of, along with two great people and friends, Victoria Howard and Billy Haughton, will be released and available for purchase.
We will also be giving 10 percent of the book’s profits to be split equally, five percent each, to the Standardbred Retirement Foundation and the Harness Racing Museum.
Roosevelt Raceway was the foundation of modern day harness racing and it lives in the minds and hearts of all who raced there and on what would have been its 75th season it is fitting that we remember this once great track.