Fair-ly Successful!
Buffalo Raceway LogoBuffalo Raceway, is located at the Hamburg Fairgrounds, which is about 10 miles south of Buffalo. The track surface is a half mile, lighted oval which conducts night racing. Along with Batavia Downs, they create a circuit that runs from January to December. The grandstand and clubhouse are glass enclosed, the grandstand can accommodate 5,000 and the clubhouse another 650. The clubhouse area is open year round for simulcasting and has a dinning area where you can get a mean 'beef on wick' with home made potato chips. There is parking for 3,000 cars and stables for around 1,000 horses.
Big League HappeningIn 2004, the track was converted to a racino, which was located on the first level of the clubhouse and grandstand. In 2010 the casino was moved out of the track to it's own facility located at the fairgrounds.
Opened at an odd time in American history (during World War II) Buffalo Raceway today still operates at it's original location in the Erie County Fairgrounds. Unlike it's neighbor track Batavia Downs which with it splits the racing year it never needed to be rescued by a Racino format. No doubt from it's hay day in the sixties that the track was declining and the Racino gave it renewed vigor but the track was never out of operation.
In 2015 Buffalo Raceway opened early in January and ran till July in the summer months New York Sires Stakes races were run there.
I've spent some time at the Fairgrounds in Hamburg, We used to show our dogs in the building across from the clubhouse on the first turn. I would walk over to the rail and watch the horses work out, unfortunately the dog show was always the second week of January about two weeks before racing began. I did make it a couple of times for live racing when the casino was still there and used to enjoy the clubhouse dinning area. I have not been back since the casino was moved to it's new location, so I have no idea how the interior of the track looks today.