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  Semi NO  Downs!     

Ladies Day Over the years, the track in Casselberry had many names and almost as many configurations. In it's final year of operation it was known as Seminole Harness Raceway, the racing surface was a three quarter mile oval. Back in 1920, when the track first opened it had a mile oval, which the first thoroughbred converted to five eights in 1966. A few years later the second group of thoroughbred owners converted it to it's last distance. The harness owners who took over planned to put it back to five eights, but that never happened.

The original building layout was a sprawling complex, that looked like it belonged south of the border. It seemed to be a popular night spot and harness horseman named it the "country club of trotting tracks". Nevertheless around 1960, when someone decided to get serious about pari mutual racing there, it was pretty run down and had to go.

The group of harness horseman trying to reopen the track, razed the old structure and erected a modern steel grandstand, which they never really got to use. In 1966 it falls into the hands of the the first thoroughbred group, who turn it over to the second group after they quickly go bust. The second group thinks the place should be upgraded, so they spend million and tack on a state of the art clubhouse. In less than a year they go belly up and what goes around comes around. A group of harness people take over and inherit the whole thing. A grandstand that seats 2,500, clubhouse with 450 seats that includes a dining room that seated 600. There was parking for over 2,000 cars and the entrance road was widened to ease traffic jams, that frustrated previous owners.

Ladies Day Seminole Downs, Seminole Jockey Club, Seminole Driving Park, Azalea Driving Park and Seminole Racing Park were just some of the names the Casselberry oval went by in the old days. In 1967 it became known a Seminole Downs, when a group of Illinois investors brought thoroughbred racing to mid Florida. They inherited a new grandstand, converted the old mile oval to five eights and opened for business. Their claim to fame was Mambo Rhythm who paid $430.80 to win on May 26,1967. Business wasn't to good, they didn't last the season, here comes version 2.

Determined the first group didn't know how to manage a racetrack a new set of investors took over in 1968, as the Seminole Turf Club. Focusing on the mistakes of the first group, this crew took around two years to make improvements before a race was run. They added on a state of the art clubhouse, widened the access road, and expanded the track to three quarters of a mile. Their reward for the millions they spent, nothing they didn't make one season either. That would do it for thoroughbreds in Casselberry, the trotters were coming home.

Ladies Day For most of it's existence Seminole whatever, was known as a winter training center for harness horses and in 1973 having gained all that the thoroughbred people put in, they finally opened for pari mutual racing. They kept the Seminole Turf Club name a few years before changing it to Seminole Harness Raceway.  As it turned out they were the most successful of the equine breeds. They had a run that lasted for seven years, then things went to the dogs.

In other states like, Vermont, New Hampshire and West Virginia where dog racing was legal there was a natural regression, by the owners from horse to dog racing, not so much Seminole Harness Raceway. The owner of a Florida dog track, tried to take control of Seminole Harness Raceway for the sole purpose of turning it into a dog track even though one existed less than a mile or so away. He was initially turned back, but persevered and in 1981, the track became Seminole Greyhound Park. The dogs lasted longer than anyone, having a twenty year run, before closing for good in 2000. On August 30, 2003 the final chapter ended, when the track was imploded.

Today the original site of Seminole Downs is half housing development, half vacant lot. West of the lake there are houses, east where the clubhouse turn and barns were is undeveloped. In the old days Seminola Drive would pretty much end at the track parking lot, today it joins up with Lake Road. When you come to the point where they meet you would probably be around the old paddock after having driven through where the parking lot was.