Arlington Downs was an American

horse-racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

track located in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

Tarrant County Tarrant County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2020, it had a population of 2,110,640. It is Texas' third-most populous county and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Fort Worth. Tarrant County, one of 2 ...

, about from downtown

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

. The $3 million facility, a 1¼-mile track with a 6,000-seat grandstand, was constructed on W.T. Waggoner's Three D's Stock Farm, and opened in November 1929.

History

W.T. Waggoner built the track, grandstand and stables for prize-winning horse races before parimutuel betting was legalized in Texas. They also held

Quarter Horse The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at s ...

shows,

rodeos Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaq ...

and various civic events on the same property. W.T. and his sons Guy (1883-1950) and E. Paul (1889-1967) campaigned in support of

parimutuel betting Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winnin ...

which helped get the bill passed in the

Texas state legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful arm ...

. E. Paul visited some of the larger race tracks to see how they were built and to learn how the races were conducted. By the second racing season, the track was expanded and included additional amenities, and a large training stable that was built atop the hill overlooking the racetrack. Waggoner lived to see the early success of Arlington Downs, and died in 1934. When two racegoers, O. O. Franklin and J. B. Coulter, were arrested at Arlington Downs in the fall of 1931 for openly betting on the races, the resulting publicity and court case allowed racing proponents to make their case public. In 1933, the Texas legislature legalized parimutuel betting and issued the first permit to Arlington Downs. The racetrack thrived as

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

owners from across the country sent their horses to compete at Arlington Downs. During its first year of full operation with legal wagering, 650 horses ran on the track, profits averaged $113,731 a day, and the average daily attendance was 6,734. Waggoner died of stroke on December 11, 1934, and the racing industry lost one of its most fervent boosters. At the end of the 1937 regular session, the state legislature repealed the parimutuel laws and Arlington Downs was sold to commercial developers. The racetrack was used for rodeos and other events until 1958, when the buildings were razed. In 1978, a Texas historical landmark was placed on the site.http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xva02, Texas State Historical Society

References

{{Reflist Defunct horse racing venues in the United States Horse racing venues in Texas Motorsport venues in Texas Sports venues demolished in 1958