Manor Downs was a

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

racetrack A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also use ...

located outside

Manor, Texas Manor ( ) is a city in Travis County, Texas, Travis County, Texas, United States. Manor is located 12 miles northeast of Austin, Texas, Austin and is part of the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. The population was 13,652 at the 2020 census. Ma ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It was Texas' oldest

pari-mutuel 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 winni ...

horse racetrack. Live racing in the spring featured both

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 ...

and

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 ...

racing.

Simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...

racing was also available. Frances Carr and Sam Cutler began development of Manor Downs in 1975 on of land that had an old horse race track on it. They initially planned for Manor Downs to be a horse-training stable and fairground facility. Manor Downs originally hosted just quarter-horse racing; but when pari-mutuel betting was legalized, the track was later upgraded for thoroughbred racing in order to qualify for a pari-mutuel license. Manor Downs was licensed as a class 2 racetrack in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. A class 2 racetrack is a racetrack on which racing is conducted for no more than 44 days in a calendar year. Manor Downs has also been the site for concerts through the years including Farm Aid 2 and the Grateful Dead. As horse racing's popularity waned with the slow economy of the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

, Manor Downs ceased operations in late July 2010 rather than continue losing money.

Racing

The following graded stakes were run at Manor Downs: *Grade I Manor Downs Futurity $300,000 *Grade II Longhorn Futurity $200,000 *Grade II Manor Downs Derby $145,540 *Grade III Longhorn Derby $121,560

External links

Manor Downs
Defunct sports venues in Texas Buildings and structures in Travis County, Texas Defunct horse racing venues in the United States {{Texas-sports-venue-stub