Thistledown Racetrack
Thistledown Racetrack is a one-mile thoroughbred racetrack in North Randall, Ohio. The track is located on 128 acres approximately 10 miles southeast of downtown Cleveland.
Thistledown Racetrack holds live horseracing in a season that typically starts either in March or April and ends in December. In fact, the track has one of the longest racing seasons of all North American thoroughbred racetracks, covering approximately 185 racing days.
Thistledown Racetrack hosts the Ohio Derby every year. The Derby is the premier graded stakes race in the state and one of the top races for three-year olds in the country. Aside from the Derby, other Stakes events hosted by Thistledown Racetrack include:
One of the peculiar aspects of horseracing at Thistledown Racetrack is that they consider some simulcast races from the nearby Ohio track of Beulah Park as being “theirs”. This is the reason why many betting schedules and guides often put the names of these two tracks side-by-side on their materials.
- Merry Time Stakes
- Cleveland Gold Cup
- Rose DeBartolo Memorial
- George Lewis Memorial
- North Randall Stakes
- Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes
- Miss Ohio Stakes
- Ohio Debutante Handicap
- The Emerald Necklace Stakes
- The Best of Ohio Endurance
- The Best of Ohio Distaff
- The Best of Ohio Sprint
- The Juvenile Stakes
- The John W. Galbreath
Thistle Down Racetrack Facts
- Main Track: One mile, oval
- Distance from last turn to finish line: 978 feet
History of Thistledown Racetrack
1925 - Thistledown Racetrack racetrack opened.
1993 - Onion Roll reached 43.26 mph in a race at Thistledown Racetrack on Sept. 27. This was the fastest speed recorded by any horse in a single race.
1999 - Magna Entertainment, one of North America’s biggest owners, operators and managers of horseracing tracks, acquired Thistledown Racetrack in November.
2002 - Five barns with 34 stalls each opened on the Thistledown Racetrack backstretch, increasing the Cleveland-area track’s stable capacity to 34 barns and 1,598 stalls.
