Grants Pass is the county seat of Josephine County in Oregon which has a population of about 83,000. The county gets its name from Josephine Creek, which itself was named after Virginia Josephine Rollins Ort, the daughter of a prospective Gold Digger, Floyd Rollins, who came to Southern Oregon in 1851 in search of gold. An historic day in the regions history is 22nd January 1856 when Josephine County was separated from Jackson County. The County has held a Fair for some considerable time, but in 1913 Grange Fair moved to Murphy Grange Hall and within 3 years was relabelled as Josephine County Fair in 1916. Horse racing became an established part of the Fair in 1921, while between the World Wars the site of the Fair moved to Ball Park, now known as Riverside Park. Racing continued to be an integral part of the Fair until 1975, after which the Southern Oregon Horse Racing Association began a programme of thoroughbred horse racing which made better use of the Fairs Grandstands for longer in the year. Today the Grants Park Racetrack, on the Josephine County Fairgrounds, makes use of a 4 furlong oval track, separate 366 metre chute, with both using a 137 metre home straight. The principal race is the Firecracker Futurity when a field normally of 24 is whittled down to a final of 8 runners. Some previous winners since the turn of the Millennium are shown below:- |
