By: Grandma Horse Racing
By: Thomas Deimel
Twitter: @tjdhorseplayer
Thinking about what to collect in terms of horse racing-related memorabilia? How about postcards?
Postcards are generally 4” x 6”, so they are easy to store and can give you a look at tracks over the years. You can look for racetracks, county fairs, or horses and get horse racing postcards worldwide.
Being a student of history, a postcard gives me a look into that racetrack at a period that I may not be able to get anywhere else. The one thing that is very consistence with most of these postcards is that the racetracks wanted to show crowds of people attending, and at the time, the crowds did show up for a day (or two) at the races.
Monmouth Park Postcard
Many of the racetracks were tourist attractions, and at the time, a good way to send a note of where you visited was via a postcard. (Today, we send selfies).
Hialeah Park is on the top of my list of how many I have found dating back to when the track opened in 1925 (first four years run dogs). The track and flamingos are still there but no more horse racing, unfortunately. Hialeah was one of the most beautiful tracks in its day, with gardens, palm trees, flowers, and flamingos. I have found postcards of the infield, post parade, the paddock, the tram, and a view of the grandstand and clubhouse.
Hialeah Racecourse Postcard
The closed and sometimes forgotten tracks are represented with postcards like Tropical Park, Hagerstown, Marlboro, Roosevelt Raceway, Atlantic City, Epsom Downs (Houston, TX), Arlington Downs (Arlington, TX), and many others. They are shopping or strip malls now.
There are also some very strange postcards available too. A picture of the Beulah Park food stand was different from what I would expect to see. Or a picture of an empty hallway was one postcard I found for Rockingham. Nothing says racetrack like an empty hallway.
I am looking for postcards from Raceland, Delmar Gardens, Brighton Beach, Jamaica, Miles Park, Olympia Park, Stadium at Golden Gate Park, and a few more. I have seen pictures of postcards in the library or museum collections for many of these former racetracks but finding them for sale is challenging.
Do you know what racetrack this use to be?
Pricing generally starts at about $1.50 to whatever someone thinks they can get for the postcard. Make sure, when offered, to make an offer of what you are willing to pay.
