Fairmount Park Racetrack is located in Collinsville, Illinois, a part of the St. Louis metro area. The track hosts thoroughbred flat racing during the spring and summer months. It is one of five horse racing venues active in Illinois, and the only one outside the Chicago metro area. Fairmount has a one mile oval dirt track, plus straight chutes for 1 1/4 mile races and six furlong races.

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Fairmount Park History

Fairmount Park Racetrack in Collinsville, Illinois opened in 1925 and originally featured both thoroughbred flat racing and standardbred harness racing (harness racing was discontinued in 1999). During the 1920's, the course hosted the very popular Fairmont Derby. In 2006, the track hosted the $250,000 St. Louis Derby, the highest purse every offered at Fairmount. Lawyer Ron came in first before a crowd of 10,000.

Ogden Corporation bought the track in 1969. In 2000, Ogden sold the track to Bill Stiritz, then the chairman of Ralston Purina.

Fairmount Park offers simulcast wagering from tracks throughout the country. It also operates four off-track betting facilities in Alton, Carbondale, Springfield and Sauget, Illinois; a fifth OTB facility in Grayville, Illinois closed in early 2007.

As recently as 1997, Fairmount Park offered as many as 232 live racing days per year. But in recent years, the track has suffered greatly with the advent of riverboat casinos in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Racing dates have declined to 90 per year, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

In 2007, track management announced a plan to build a 20,000-seat amphitheater at the track and expand live racing (including the reinstatement of harness racing), pending approval by state lawmakers to allow slot machines to be installed, similar to racinos in nearby locations. When the legislature did not approve slots in its regular session, Fairmount management applied to the Illinois Racing Board for 90 days of live racing, but said that if lawmakers did not approve relief for horse tracks in its November "veto session," the track would only run 60 days, citing declining attendance and betting handle, competition from casinos, and overpayment of the horsemen's account for purses.

On January 6, 2010 Fairmount was stripped of 49 of its 52 allotted live racing days due to the 6 member union failing to reach a compromise with track ownership. The only live racing days will be April 27th, April 30th and May 1st in 2010. The simulcasting is not expected to be affected by this ruling.

On January 25th, 2010 Fox 2 St. Louis released" It looks like the horses will run all fifty two races as originally scheduled at Fairmount Park race track. The Illinois state racing board wanted to cut the number to three. It was all based on a labor dispute with five workers. But a tentative agreement should keep Fairmount open. Illinois state representative Jay Hoffman says the racing board overstepped its bounds, "there are ways to deal with labor disputes; one of them is not jeopardizing the livelihood of families." There was a meeting on January 26, 2010 to go over the agreement.

The track's general manager claimed that purses at the track were less than half that of similar tracks in neighboring Kentucky and Indiana. The request was granted with those conditions intact.

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Fairmount Park Live Horse Racing Schedule

March - September
Tuesday, Friday, and most Saturdays

Horse Racing Schedule

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Fairmount Park Layout

 

 Main Track: One mile, oval.
Distance from last turn to finish line: 1,050 Feet.

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Post Time at Fairmount Park

Post time 1:00 pm on Tuesdays & 7:30 pm on Friday & Saturday nights

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Fairmount Park Track Code

FP

Takeout Information

Win, place, and show: 17%
Daily Double and Exacta wagering: 20.5%
Trifecta, Pick 3, wagering: 25%

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Current Weather Conditions at Fairmount Park

Fairmount Park Contact Information

Mailing Address:
Fairmount Park Racetrack
9301 Collinsville Road
Collinsville, IL 62234

Website: www.fairmountpark.com