Page 108 - March_2023

RILLITO PARK CELEBRATES
Coady Photography
2023 marks 80 years of racing at Rillito
Park in Tucson, Arizona. This year’s meet began on Feb. 4 and runs through April 2, offering increased purses, a new retail store with apparel and gifts, upgraded food and beverage services, and live entertainment. Rillito Park this year
is the first Quarter Horse track to institute StrideSafe sensor technology to improve track safety by using three accelerometers and GPS to track changes in a horse’s high-speed movement and to identify horses with a potential for significant injury to horse and rider. Rillito
Park also hires students from the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) who work in a variety of areas. Among the many duties of these students is to provide safety
records to the Equine Wellness Program, which puts at a priority the health, safety and wellness of horses and riders with equine wellness educational seminars on equine nutrition, veterinary care, training, and fitness.
Rillito Park is considered the birthplace of modern Quarter Horse racing and is located under the backdrop of the Santa Catalina Mountains in Northwest Tucson.
In 1922, Arkansas native Jefferson Rukin Jelks went to Tucson to study at the University of Arizona. Years later, he purchased land along the Rillito River and created the J. Rukin Jelks Stud Farm. His spread soon grew to 93 acres. With the help of Melvin H. Haskell, Jelks decided to build a racetrack in his backyard.
Mike Weiss,
Rillito Park general manager
Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse
by Gloria Dow
They experimented with stakes races, futurities and handicaps, and the track was home to many famous horses such as Shue Fly, Piggin String and Hard Twist. Together with Bob Locke,
Jake Meyer, Clancy Wollard and other local horsemen, Haskell and Jelks formed the Tucson Horseman’s Association which sponsored races at the track. The World Championship Quarter Horse Speed Trials decided which Quarter Horse would be the World Champion, and
the first to bear this title was Clabber in 1940, followed by Shue Fly for three consecutive years in 1941, 1942 and 1943.
Rillito Park officially opened in 1943 after the closing of Hacienda Moltaqua Racetrack, owned by Bob Locke, which was the site of the first
106 SPEEDHORSE March 2023
YEARS OF RACING
© K Storm 2023