Jamaica Race Course , also called the Jamaica Racetrack , was an American thoroughbred horse racing facility operated by the Metropolitan Jockey Club in Jamaica, Queens , New York City .
6-620: The 1-mile (1.6 km) track opened on April 27, 1903, a day which featured the inaugural running of the Excelsior Handicap . Eugene D. Wood , one of the founders and largest stockholder, served as its first president. Upon Wood's death in April 1924, Dr. Edward P. Kilroe was appointed president to replace him. The Wood Memorial Stakes is named in Eugene Wood's honor. Legendary Hall of Fame horse trainer Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons
12-460: Is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the first week of April at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens , New York . A Listed event for three-year-olds and up, it is contested over a distance of one-and-one-eighth miles 9 furlong . "Excelsior" is Latin for "Upward, ever upward", and is the motto of the state of New York . In 1928, when Hall of Famer Grey Lag
18-709: The Greater New York Association took over management of Jamaica Race Course along with Aqueduct Racetrack , Belmont Park , and Saratoga Race Course and decided to undertake renovations to Aqueduct in South Ozone Park , the other track in the Greater Jamaica area. Jamaica took on the Big A dates during Aqueduct's four year renovation, after which it would be sold for redevelopment as a housing project. With Aqueduct slated to reopen in
24-616: The fall of 1959, Jamaica ceased operations on August 1 and was torn down the following year. Today Rochdale Village a middle income cooperative occupies the former site of the Jamaica Race Course. The racetrack was served by the adjacent Locust Manor station where the Long Island Rail Road runs 40°40′40″N 73°46′31″W / 40.67778°N 73.77528°W / 40.67778; -73.77528 Excelsior Handicap The Excelsior Stakes
30-407: Was ten years old, he came in third. He'd won this race as a five-year-old in 1923. The race was run at the old Jamaica Race Course from 1903 to 1910, and then again from 1915 to 1959. In 1913, it was run at Belmont Park . It wasn't run at all in 1909, 1911, 1912, 1914, 1933, 1967, and 2020. Since inception, the race has been contested at various distances and as initially a handicap as the race
36-548: Was the first to train at Jamaica Race Course and Native Dancer made a winning debut here on April 19, 1952. The facility's attendance record of 64,679 was set on Memorial Day , 1945. It was home to ongoing races such as the Prioress Stakes , Frizette Stakes , Paumonok Handicap , Excelsior Handicap , Wood Memorial Stakes , Remsen Handicap , Bed O' Roses Handicap , and the Jamaica Handicap . In 1955,
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