Downs and Out !
Madison Downs Ad2020 Update: Madison Downs is not only dead, it's dust. 2021 will mark fifty years since it last ran. The fair may still be there, but it might be hard to find someone who actually placed a wager there.
Madison Downs was located at the Madison County Fairgrounds, although not as far out as Mitchell, Madison was still two hours northwest of Omaha. The track was a half mile oval with an open air grandstand, that could hold 2,500. The stables could accommodate 500 horses. The racing season was usually around two weeks.
Billed as the "Saratoga of The Plains" Madison Downs usually ran around two weeks as part of the Nebraska Fair Circuit during the summer months, after the Aksarben meet.
In 1966 the Nebraska Legislature acted on a bill that would repeal a previous bill that excluded the first million dollars handled to be tax exempt at Nebraska's half milers. Without that break the track could not survive and went out of the racing business in a few years. There are no signs that racing existed at Madison Fairgrounds.
After over forty years of non racing, it could be getting harder to find someone who attended the races there. If you check the aerial view of the fairgrounds today it looks like there is still a faint outline of where the track used to be.
No. Never made it to Madison Downs, but I'm probably not the only one!