Na-kima Meadows!
Yakima Meadows was
part of the Washington state circuit. In 1961 it became the junior track
in Washington State, along with Longacr
es and Playfair, ironically all of
these venues have closed leaving Emerald Downs which replaced Longacres
in the Seattle area as the only commercial Pari-Mutual Track in Washington.
Yakima Meadows ran a mixed thoroughbred, Quarter Horse meet which consisted of mainly bottom level claimers. Some stakes races were run during its meet which was split to begin and end the racing season in Washington State. Russell Baze, the winningest rider in North American history won his race at Yakima Meadows in 1974.
Located at the state fair park in Yakima the grandstand is still intact but only a faint ouline of the racing surface remains. It looks like there is a small oval in front of the old grandstand, that is probably used for car racing.