Ben White Raceway

The story

Ben White Raceway sat in Fairview Park on Lee Road, about three miles from downtown Orlando, on a 120-acre tract. It was the largest training facility and winter home for champion racehorses, and earned the nickname the colt capital of harness racing. It was owned and maintained by the City of Orlando and named for B.F. Ben White, one of the nation's most famous trainers. A 1963 city directory lists the raceway at 1805 Lee Road.

White chose Orlando as a training site in 1920. The raceway lost popularity because shipping horses to Orlando became too expensive. In July 2001 the name was changed to Trotters Park at the request of White's family, since the track no longer had anything to do with harness racing. On January 10, 2002, the city decided to close the struggling facility and use the property as a city park. Former residents recalled growing up in cinderblock houses on the back quarter-mile track, and a Holiday House restaurant on the property.

What's There Now

The city planned a city park after the 2002 closure; the source does not describe the site today.

Everything that was here

• until 2002

  Ben White RacewayOther

  The self-styled colt capital of harness racing, a 120-acre city-owned training track that was renamed Trotters Park in 2001 and closed in 2002.

  See the map in 2002 →

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Nearby history