There is a diamond in the rough thriving in Tucson, despite what youth soccer advocates say. Between races, a dull buzz wafts from the assorted crowd of thousands sprinkled along the railing and throughout the grandstand and clubhouse—snowbirds, UA students, families pushing strollers and chasing after excited toddlers, cowboys decked out in 10-gallon hats and matching boots and belts, horse owners, riders, enthusiasts and everyone in between.
There’s a roar of desperation and delight as a tight pack of neck-and-neck quarter horses race to storm the wire first at the 73-year-old Rillito Racetrack.
“My favorite line has always been, ‘You’ve got a 115-pound athlete steering a 1,200-pound athlete going 35 mph.’ There is beauty and there is pageantry in that. It’s a show. To me, we’re putting on a show every single day,” says Mike Weiss, the Rillito Racetrack general manager.
This is the birthplace of quarter horse racing, the chute system, the photo finish and the track where 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah’s Bob Baffert studied through the UA’s Race Track Industry Program and won his first race as a racehorse trainer.
The track has been in jeopardy since 2005 when youth soccer groups first set their sights on the Rillito Park property. Ted Schmidt, president of the Pima County Junior Soccer League and board member of the Tucson Soccer Academy, argues that the park is the only parcel of county land in Tucson large enough to house 17 soccer fields in one place (the minimum field count required to be eligible to host regional and national tournaments), leaving the long-term future of the racetrack uncertain.
Rillito Racetrack is pushing Pima County for a contract renewal spanning several years to attract long-term investors for much needed improvements to the aging property and to continue as a multi-use facility with its pre-existing 11 soccer fields. Soccer advocates are insistent Tucson needs 17 soccer fields in a single-use facility, not a horse racetrack. The track’s fate will be decided by Pima County in July 2017 when the racetrack’s contract, extended from January of 2016, will expire.
Schmidt says the Rillito Racetrack is a place where Tucsonans “drink alcohol and gamble,” a venue for “a dying sport” akin to drive-in theaters, despite never having attended a race at the Rillito Racetrack. According to Weiss, the track drew more than 50,000 patrons over only 12 days of races this year, many from out of state and the country.
The Rillito Racetrack was added to the National Registry of Historic Landmarks in 1986, but Schmidt says “There’s a lot of things of historical value that have been moved indoors.” Referencing the eradication of part of downtown Tucson’s Barrio Libre in the name of urban renewal in the 1960s, Schmidt continues, “We didn’t eliminate the ability to have a downtown area because there were artifacts there.”
Could Tucson’s lack of historic preservation repeat itself with the Rillito Racetrack? Weiss says the fate of the track continues to rest with those who visit. “If we can them keep coming back,” he says, “I think you’ll really see something really special.”
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2016.
Put the soccer fields in Oro Valley and build the track into the attraction it could be…it’s wonderful and unique…soccer is fine, but not uniquely Tucson!
I am so tired of the County Administrator and his cronies! WE THE PEOPLE, do not want your soccer project. Eat it, and move on!
Well said, Katie. I used to work for those idiots. They can’t get anything right.
so coool
Nice advertising for the track. I guess the cruelty involved with horse racing and the horses who die on the track aren’t worth mentioning, huh? I’m actually curious, is this piece supposed to be serious journalism? http://horseracingwrongs.com/2016/03/09/rillitos-dead-2015/
A responsible journalist would not take this at face value.
“(the minimum field count required to be eligible to host regional and national tournaments)”
Compare the existing venues that host regional and national tournaments to what the Rillito Racetrack would offer.
And ask Mr. Schmidt to pitch the whole bundle akin to http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/1/1/Re…
As to your quotes of Mr. Schmidt regarding the character of Rillito patrons,
Competitive youth soccer, a business where adults (30+) use children (10+) to cheat.
Actually thought Mr. Schmidt was half describing the downtown Tucson scene.
Kim, are YOU serious?
Fuck the track, and fuck the sadist yard apes keeping it in business, and fuck the Weekly for dressing in “indie paper” drag.
I never had any interest in watching abused horses run around a track for money. This is just a couple steps above that horrible dog track. I never even knew this place existed for the first eight years I lived here. Even then when I went to a farmers market there, I thought it was abandoned with how crummy the building looked. Most of my friends did not realize there was horse racing here. I guess it is a cultural thing.and 50,000 people for 12 days is not that many people per day. I hardly call that a popular attraction. Some things should be left in the dust bin of history.
Give the land to the children. They will benefit far more by playing an outdoor team sport than the people going to see a dilapidated race track so they can drink and gamble.
Nate, you’re an ignorant, uninformed, pseudo-elitist. Your comments illustrate how little you know about the sport and the wonderful, hard-working people who earn their living at it.
Under fascist liberal rule for decades, Tucson is a dump and doesn’t deserve the sport.
5th poorest city in the country, and DAMN proud of it.
More soccer fields? For whom, the overwhelming majority of children in Tucson are illegals.
Oh, I forgot, that IS the dream – to be just like Meheeecooo and all subjects to the Grijalva’s and the white guilt liberals that hate America.
What, Again…your handle should be What an Idiot.
Tucson…5th poorest city in the country, and What an Idiot must be DAMN proud of it. This sad excuse for humanity mentions this “fact” every other time they post.
And the “illegals”? If I were to believe What an Idiot, I can’t walk 5 feet without bumping into one. Well, guess what, like everything else this maroon (thanks Looney Tunes!) says, it’s obviously exaggerated to the point that it is now untrue and this blowhard has more than lost their credibility.
Go away, just as Old Pueblo Independent/Old Pueblo Veteran/Desert Patriot/whatever this one person is calling themselves these days has. (Praise the Lord!) Heck, you probably are all the same LOSER keyboard athlete typing from your mom’s basement. Please, just go away.
Geez, not a word about me. Must be losing my touch !!
I am so tired of soccer invading and destroying recreational facilities built for other sports. They destroyed Kino Stadium, they are trying to destroy Rillito…go away soccer. Youth soccer: a way for kids to do long term damage to their brains by using their undeveloped craniums to hit a ball. Child abuse.