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  A Nostalgic Ending!     

Marlboro Race CourseMarlboro Logo

Marlboro Race Course, was a five eights mile track that opened in 1914 located in Upper Marlboro. During it's run it would hold a three week agricultural meet. It had an open air grandstand and clubhouse that could seat 1,260 fans, 2,600 in the grandstand and 1,000 in the clubhouse. The stable could accommodate 475 horses.   

Marlboro was once part of the Maryland Fair Circuit it had a purse value of 6 which wasn't bad at the time for a fair meet. It was swallowed up by Bowie Race Course in 1973, during the period when the pressure was being applied to transfer fair dates to larger tracks

Marlboro Race CourseThe Nursery Stakes

 Marlboro was probably more known for political scandal than racing near the end, as it was the center of a corruption case high in Maryland political circles centering around the fair tracks date transfers. The track was converted to an equestrian center, and in the fall of 1980 the grandstand burned to the ground. In 1988 Marlboro made comeback of sorts.

 Starting in October of 1988 and running till 1993 racing was conducted for two days a year on the Marlboro oval with pari-mutual wagering. The races were well attended mostly because of the nostalgia they provided, but were suddenly canceled after 1993. More fans turned out that first day in 1988 then ever in the history of the Marlboro Race Track. 

I made it to Marlboro once, but don't remember much about it, except betting in an open shed and walking up a hill to catch the bus back to D.C. after the races.