There was once a time when Windsor was well known as a horse racing centre. There was the Windsor Jockey Club where Jackson Park and Kennedy sit today, there was Devonshire Race Track, which is today occupied by a Shopping Mall of the same name, and there was a third one, located across Howard Avenue from Devonshire, which is today home to a crappy sub-division, but for a week in October of 1920 was the centre of the sporting universe.
Here is a postcard view of the track from the late 1920’s.
A photo looking south from the intersection of Howard Avenue and Division Road. This photo appeared in Michael Gladstone White’s book “Windsor – Days Before Yesterday”. However since Gladstone White, never gives credit to any sources, it’s impossible to say where this photo resides. Likely it is from either the Archives or Baby Museum.
An aerial view of the remains of the track from the 1960’s. As you can see the track surface was visible for many years.
Over the years, traces of the track vanished…
…and was replaced with a sub-division.
Today few traces remain, two crumbling pillars hold a decrepit sign along South Cameron Boulevard.
The pillars can be seen in the second photo in today’s post, they are immediately to the right of the train track crossing gates along Howard Ave.
Other than a street name in the sub-division (and a picture of a horse on a sign), there is very little to link this patch of land to what it used to be.
The typical McMansions…
…and cookie cutter housing, does little to recall October 12, 1920.
Just a little over 88 years ago, on this patch of land, one of the most anticipated and hotly contested horse races in the world took place at Kenilworth Race Track. It was the first horse race ever filmed in its entirety, and had a purse of $75,000 (about $747,000 in 2008 dollars).
A match race between two of the most famous and successful horses of the time.
Photo in the Public Domain
Sir Barton was owned by Commander J.K.L. Ross of Montreal.
Sir Barton was horse racing’s first triple crown winner, capturing the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes in 1919.
Photo in the Public Domain
Man o’ War was one of the most dominating and impressive horses of all time, Man o’ War is considered by many to be the greatest Thoroughbred racehorse of all time. In 21 career races, Man o’ War won 20 of them. The only one he lost was in 1919, was under dubious circumstances, and gave us a new phrase.
In the Sanford Memorial Stakes, he lost by a half length to a horse named “Upset”. Because of that race, to this day when the favourite loses to an underdog, the result is known as an upset.
The race at Kenilworth Park was filmed, and as you can see there was a capacity crowd. Reports at the time put attendance at more than 20,000.
In the end Man o’ War was too strong and crushed Sir Barton by what was officially written as 7 lengths, but in viewing the film, you can see it was actually much more than that.
A .pdf copy of the report of the results of the race from the New York Times can be found here.
So next time you’re out driving past the mall, look across the street and think back to that day in 1920, when the focus of the sporting world was focused on our city and Kenilworth Race Track.
awesome. i thought those pillars were original but i was never sure. oh the could’ve beens windsor might have become.
great post!
I can still hear my grandfather’s voice telling me ( ! was about seven years old) about that race as we stood in that then vacant derelict area. He described the crowds, the masses that came from Detroit and beyond and the race itself. Then he showed me the newspaper of that day that he had kept, alas the original paper has long gone to the dustbin. But it lives on in microfilm.
Excellent coverage of the history of this site. The general population of Windsor should be more aware of the history of this part of the province. More extensive general knowledge on structures which remain standing may have some effect when these become threatened by the wrecking ball (like the Seagrave building). In fact, schools should provide local history such as this to students at an early age…. even if it is only having a guest speaker once a year and a booklist for suggested reading. Connecting students with local history will enhance appreciation for history in general. Just my opinion.
My Great Uncle recals cleaning out the stables in return for soup and sandwiches at Kenilworth. He was only a child at the time. He also told me, he would slept on a picnic bench on the ‘back nine’ the night before raceday’s. The only way he could see the race for free. This would have been in the early 30’s.
The only memories I have are seeing the old concrete stables overgrown in vines during the mid to late 80s. I would have explored it, if I was older.
Andrew, where did you get that race ticket? Cool!
The Canada Southern website has pictures of the area from the 30s and 40s http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/images/windsor-howardave.jpg
http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/images/nyc-1194-3.jpg
http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/images/windsor-tower4.jpg
http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/images/windsor-roundhouse-2.jpg. Also a picture of the roundhouse from the 1960s.
Rich – the tickets aren’t mine. They showed up on eBay a few years ago, and I saved the scan of them, as I had been intending to cover this for quite some time 🙂
i remember there used to be a place you could go horseback riding too just over the tracks by devonshire, where it cuts back around to dougall. back around 1980 or so.
Didn’t he say “17 lengths” in this video?
By the way nice story and ticket lokks in very good condition 88 years later wauu…
Very nice post. Horse racing is certainly a shadow of what it once was. A lot of tracks have gone under, like Detroit Race Course. For some reason it didn’t capture the imagination of the public any longer. My generation never really latched onto it. I watched the Kentucky Derby as a kid but otherwise didn’t find it interesting. Maybe it was the general backlash against gambling, but that’s not the case any more!
Could this or some of the tracks have survived? Maybe, but people’s tastes are fickle. Instead of watching horses run in circles, many watch NASCAR (or used to).
It would have been nice if the subdivision had incorporated the track into the street plan, at least that would preserve the footprint of where these great horses once ran.
Fantastic coverage of this episode in Windsor’s history!
One of the reason’s Windsor’s claim to horse racing vanished is when other cities throughout N. America started to do the same. Then Michigan legalized horse racing which pretty much brought it to a close.
I always wondered what those pillars were from.
Excellent! I wonder, do you have anything on the old roundhouse, i remember that from when i was young.
-me
Great story and archival film footage.I recall from the late 60’s people renting/riding horses from the stables that were still there. On a side note the website shows 13 comments but i was only able to see four. Thanks Again for a great story.
Never mind the rest of the comments finally popped up JAYPEE
I have one of Michael Gladstone White’s Windsor books. Is he around anymore? Active? What did and does he do? I only that one book.
I just picked up a book he published on the War of 1812 from an Essex county perspective. I think he must have a half dozen or so out there revolving around Windsor history. Used to spot him at the WPL main branch from time to time but for now he’s missing-in-action??? (I would have expected him to be a regular commenter on this site.)
I’ve seen MGW recently. He’s apparently working on another photo book. I wouldn’t expect to see that published anytime soon though. He’s goes to WCM quiet a bit.
oh and he love’s talking about Windsor street names and Mayor MacDonnell.
What’s the WCM?
I wonder about the economics of being a freelance Windsor historian. Gotta have another gig, no doubt.
Windsor’s Community Museum (Francois Baby House)
If anyone has a contact no. or email for Michael G. White, please let me know. i am an old friend.
Nice article! I’m 46 and been collecting items from the tracks of Windsor’s past. Been going to Windsor Raceway since I was 4 years old. I’ve managed to collect a ticket from Kenilworth and a gate or stable passes for Kenilworth and Devonshire, very cool looking. I don’t have a ticket or anything from Jackson, only a postcard and ones from Kenilworth and Devonshire as well, there are a few different ones from what I have seen. I’ve seen that match race ticket on ebay as well. Good Work!
my late father in law name was JAMES BERNARD LOGAN was a jockey at both Kenilworth and Devonshire Tracks if anyone has information on him i would really appreciate any help on this e.g pics horses he rode etc etc years would be 1929-40’s. Thank you for your time hope to hear some news from someone.
W.W.: I’m well along in researching and writing a book on the three tracks. So of course I am interested in any and all visuals that are around. Credits to the owners etc. E-mmail me if interested in sharing.
I lived in one of those homes, in the new sub-division. Right here–http://s13.postimage.org/au4mszr7r/1218d.png
One day, in my backyard under a bit of dirt, I found a penny from 1918! It’s in poor condition but you can still make out the date, and, on the other side, King George V. Here’s how it looks.
http://s9.postimage.org/oflyirli7/IMG_1390.jpg
http://s15.postimage.org/423nckye3/IMG_1387.jpg
I assume someone dropped it when that whole area was a racetrack. It’s interesting that despite all the new construction, it was still there for me to find.
Have the pillars and sign for Kenilworth been torn down? I don’t often get to this part of the city but I noticed today that they were not there… or maybe they are… traffic was heavy and may have hampered my power of observation.
I used to ride at those stables in the early ’60s. Would have ridden there for much longer, but moved to Ottawa in ’62. Much of the riding still took place on what remained of the track.
One would think that with all the rich Horse Racing History from the City of Roses there would have been a whole lot more than one Street named in honor of the sport. I assume someone must have known a bit of the History of the old Race Tracks in order to have named one of the Streets Kenilworth Drive. Somehow I believe we owed more to the great horses of the times and all the men and women that worked at these places. Alas, time consumes all things and not always in a good way and now a Track as great as Windsor Raceway once was has fallen in ruins and will also become a faded memory!
If you want to blame somebody for the end of Windsor Raceway, then look to the Government of Ontario. They took away the races, killed a lot of jobs, and took the slots out, and ruined the place.
Devonshire Mall is named after a race track that was on the site across from Kenilworth race track.