Roosevelt Raceway
Coordinates: 40°44′23″N 73°35′50″W / 40.739722°N 73.597112°W Roosevelt Raceway was a racetrack located in the town of Westbury in Long Island, New York. Initially created as a venue for motor racing, it was converted to a ½-mile harness racing facility (the actual circumference was 165 feet shorter or 15/32-mile). The harness racing facility operated from September 2, 1940 until July 15, 1988. It was the original home of the Messenger Stakes, part of the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers. The raceway hosted the event until it closed. It was also the first track to use the now universal "mobile starting gate". The operation was sold in 1984 on the condition it was to remain an operating racetrack, but the facilities deteriorated, attendance dropped off and the plant was no longer profitable. Roosevelt Raceway's closure was (and still is) controversial.
The site of Roosevelt Raceway is part of the Hempstead Plains, located in an unincorporated area of the Town of Hempstead, within the Westbury 11590 Zip Code. It is located near where the first English Governor of New York, Richard Nicolls, established the "Newmarket Course", the first horse racing track in North America (and indeed, the first organized sport of any kind) in the territory that would become the United States, in 1664.
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