BANDERA DOWNS RACECOURSE

Aintree racecourse;Ascot;Ayr;Bangor;Bath;Beverley;Brighton;Carlisle;Cartmel;Catterick;Cheltenham Festival;Chepstow;Chester;Doncaster St Leger;Epsom Derby;Exeter racecourse;Fakenham;Folkestone;Fontwell Park;Glorious Goodwood;Hamilton Park;Haydock Park;Hereford Racecourse;Hexham;Huntingdon;Kelso;Kempton Park;Leicester;Lingfield;Ludlow;Market Rasen;Musselburgh;Newbury Racecourse;Newcastle;Newmarket;Newton Abbot;Nottingham;Perth;Plumpton;Pontefract Racecourse;Redcar;Ripon;Salisbury;Sandown Park;Sedgefield;Southwell;Stratford;Taunton;Thirsk;Towcester;Uttoxeter;Warwick;Wetherby;Wincanton;Windsor;Wolverhampton;Worcester;Yarmouth;York Ebor

The Texas region of Bandera County is located on the Edwards Plateau and has a population of approximately 22,000. It first came to prominence during the Battle of Bandera in the early 1840s when a group of Texan Rangers led by John Coffee Hays defeated Comanche warriors. However, it was a further 13 years before Bandera County became established. Over a century later that a racetrack opened in the region in 1965, known initially as Lost Valley Downs, with a crowd in excess of 1000 attending the inaugural meeting. Meetings continued in this guise for two years, offering a programme of Quarter Horse and thoroughbred racing, but the gates closed in 1967 and the land lay dormant.

In 1984 the land was sold and after some modernisation it was relaunched as Bandera Downs racetrack on 6th July 1990, taking advantage of the relaxed gambling laws in the state, although competition from nearby Retama Park exposed the fragility of the venture when that track opened on 18th June 1995. After Bandera Downs closed in 1995 the land was used as a training ground, although it remains ripe for development.

Course today Former training ground
If you have photos, postcards, racecards. badges, newspaper cuttings or book references about the old course, or can provide a photo of how the ground on which the old racecourse stood looks today, then email johnwslusar@gmail.com

ISBN 978-0-9957632-0-3

652 pages

774 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-1-0

352 pages

400 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-2-7

180 pages

140 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-3-4

264 pages

235 former courses

Copies of the above books are only available by emailing johnwslusar@gmail.com stating your requirements, method of payment (cheque payable to W.Slusar) or Bank transfer, and the address where the book(s) should be sent.
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