Going to the Races at Northville Downs

Going to the Races at Northville Downs

        Northville Downs is one of three horse tracks for harness racing in Southeast Michigan. It is located on the corner of Center Street and Seven Mile Road in the city of Northville. According to the Northville Down’s web site, the track is open seven days a week from noon to midnight with simulcasting of over 30 harness races and thoroughbred races daily. There is also live harness racing Friday and Saturday nights from January through April.

Philip Pines, the director of the Hall of Fame of the Trotter, states the origin of harness racing first started in the United States in New York in 1665 at Hempstead, Long Island (15). According to the Michigan Gaming control board, it was not until 1933 that harness racing officially came to Michigan with the creation of a law legalizing horse racing with wagering. The first official harness race took place at the Detroit Fair grounds track; the former location of the State Fair Grounds (Michigan Pari-Mutuel). Northville’s harness racing had an earlier beginning when a group of people bought the land in 1902, where Northville Downs now sits, and made a track (Coffman). This site became known as the Wayne County Fairgrounds (Lundberg). In 1907, the Northville Driving Club was formed to manage the track (Sliger). It was not until 1944 that Northville Downs opened as the first Michigan race track and one of the first in the United States to offer night racing (Michigan Pari-Mutuel).

        As I walked through the doors one Saturday night, I felt as if I had left the small, quiet town of Northville, with its quaint shops, and been transported to some strange unknown world. I made reservations at the Trackview Restaurant where I was able to sit at the same table all night and watch the races. After some walking around, I found the restaurant located on the third level. I was seated at a table with a nice view of the track through the large windows that span the second and third levels. I had the choice to order from the menu or get the buffet, and I chose to order some chicken piccata from the menu. There are pari-mutuel machines for betting set up in the restaurant for convenience. Pari-mutuel is a betting system that was invented in France in the 1800’s: “The payoff to winners is made from the pool of all bets on the various entries in a race, after deduction of an operator’s commission and tax” (Pari-mutuel). This is calculated by a company called American Totalisator, which is one of three wagering computer systems that keep track of bets world-wide (Carlo).

  I looked around the restaurant and saw many large parties. One large group was celebrating a birthday with a happy 50th birthday Mylar balloon attached to one of the chairs. There was a large group sitting at two sets of tables next to mine. The ladies sat together at one table while the men sat at another. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves with one of the ladies laughing that she had won a total of forty cents. Special occasions seem to bring people to the restaurant. The betting here was very casual and did not appear to be a priority as much as just having an enjoyable time.

I decided to purchase a track program and page through it. The program, which is printed out every week, had a lot of information and it took me some time to look through it and figure out what information it provided. On the first page was the Michigan Gaming Control Board Pari-Mutuel Rules. There was a list of track records and a betting guide with easy to read instructions on how to place different kinds of bets. Also included was a page on how to read the program. Looking over the program left me confused and bewildered. There was so much information to take in, especially for someone like myself who had never been to a horse track. The central portion of the program listed the fourteen races that took place that night. Under each race was a listing of the horses racing with past performance information (Official Program). First, a number and color were listed which were the program number and horse’s saddle pad color. Next to the number was the name of the horse and above the horse’s name was the jockey’s name with his, age, the colors he was wearing, and his stats.  The trainer and owner were also listed. The horse’s past performance record was recorded and patrons used it to handicap a race. Tom Ainslie, an expert handicapper of racing for over thirty years, defines handicapping as the process of using information about a horse and its past to determine which horses would have the greatest chance of winning (17).

At seven o’clock the first race began. I sat in awe as I saw a modified truck with two long metal arms attached move in position on the track. To my amazement, the starting gate was mobile! The truck opened up two arms across the track and the horses lined up behind it. As the truck approached the starting line it increased in speed, then raced off closing the starting gate back up as the race began. The mobile starting gate stayed on the track following the race on the outside while the horses raced toward the inside. The horses raced around the track two times for a one mile race. The finish line was lit up after the horses made their first lap around the track. As the horses approached the finish line several jockeys started to whip their horses in a last minute attempt to place in the race.