What is the history of Playfair race course in Spokane Washington?

Answer 1

It first hosted horse racing in 1901 and despite many periods of inactivity, Playfair hosted its last race meeting in 2000, finishing in December of that year.

The ancient grandstand was demolished in 2004 or 2005.

Racing in Spokane was probably in its heyday in the 1970's or 1980's but later changes to state laws regarding gambling revenue splits rendered racing at Playfair to be no longer viable.

The Playfair grandstand was unique in its architecture which featured extremely steep stairways which probably wouldn't be constructed in today's world. Additionally, the photo finish equipment and personnel were housed in a little loft very high up on the steep grandstand roof. The worker(s) in which would have to go out onto the roof in any kind of weather before climbing to their roost. Finish photos were then relayed to the stewards and racing personnel below via the equivalent of fishing line and a clothespin.

Playfair Race Course was situated in east Spokane, just north of East Sprague and roughly 24 blocks from the center of the city.

Perhaps the most popular horse to race at Playfair was Washington state legend Turbulator, who won all seven of his races there in 1969 before going on to bigger and better things.

A later racing highlight at the track was when legendary jockey William Shoemaker arranged a visit and one ride on August 28, 1987, a day on which he guided 25-time Playfair runner Glamour Betty to a three-quarter-length win in a race with a $2800 purse.