In February, the Migriño Ranch held a horse racing event that was followed by their May 25 event in which six total horse races were held. The event always features live music and costs $200 pesos to attend.
The first horse racing in the U.S. occurred between 1610 and 1611. Thirty-three years later the governor of New York laid out plans for a racetrack that was operational by 1665.
The Mexican Jockey Club was founded in 1863. Financed by San Francisco boxing promoter James W. Coffroth, the Tijuana Jockey Club opened with a lot of publicity in January 1916, following Mexico’s 1915 decision to legalize gambling. Joining Coffroth was Baron Long, the owner of San Diego’s Hotel U.S. Grant. That initial track location was near the U.S./Mexico border and the six horse races on opening day drew 10,000 Californians who were denied betting legally on horse racing at home in America.
In the big leagues of Mexican horse racing such as in Mexico City, horses run around oval tracks like the ones used at the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. But drive to the outskirts of even the smallest of Mexican pueblos and you are almost certain to find a local horse racing event going on. Most of the time, local races are run on a 250- to 300-meter-long straight track instead of the popular oval one. It is basically the equivalent of drag races, except with horses racing full steam ahead.
Attending a local Mexican horse race, like the ones held at Migriño, is a great Southern Baja California experience. It’s up close and personal. The races in Cabo San Lucas are generally two horses at a time, like two big heavyweights going at it in the ring. Each race is usually over in 20 seconds, and of course, betting is part of the experience, if you so choose to lay some money down.
“I lost 100 pesos on a race near our home in Todos Santos that was too close to call. And so I came back to try my luck again,” said Carlos Hernandez, originally from Ventura, CA. “For sheer entertainment value, it might be the best $200 pesos I ever spent.”
During prohibition in the U.S., fun-seeking Americans flocked south of the border to Tijuana, where in 1928 American entrepreneurs built a beautiful casino and hotel at Aqua Caliente (hot water) on the outskirts of TJ at a cost of $2.5 million. The following year, they added the Hipodromo Agua Caliente (Caliente Race Track) which opened in late 1929. From the very beginning, the Caliente horse races and track attracted world-famous boxer Jack Dempsey, who went on to become one of the principal owners of the Riviera Resort and Casino in Ensenada. Charlie Chaplin, John Barrymore, Babe Ruth, Buster Keaton, Al Jolson, Constance Collier, Jean Harlow and Rita Hayworth all visited Caliente during its heyday.
The daughter of Spanish dancer Eduardo Cansino and his Irish wife Volga Haworth, young Rita was eventually “discovered” in Baja by a Fox Studios executive. By the early 1940s, she was a Hollywood star, featured in movies with such famous actors of the time as Tyrone Power and James Cagney.
The next horse racing event is scheduled to be held sometime in August per the three-month rotation they have exercised for the past few years. There is no website, or Facebook page advertising this under the radar, but very popular local event, but we will keep you posted once news of the next horse races is shared by event organizers.
