hialeah race track

hialeah race track

The starting gate will spring open at 1:05 p.m. Saturday at Hialeah Park for the first racing at the historic track since 2001. Hialeah's return will be solely for quarter horse races. The track's 40-day meet will not have any of the thoroughbreds that for more than seven decades made it and its surrounding city famous throughout the sports world.

``This is a rebirth, and there is tremendous excitement here and around the community.'' Hialeah Park president and owner John Brunetti said Friday. ``A lot of people felt it was a long shot that we would ever be back.'' Hialeah stopped racing after a change in state law kept it from having any exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. In 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for two years.

That state agency last March issued Hialeah a quarter horse permit, which the track hopes could lead to a return of thoroughbred racing. The quarter horses that will race at Hialeah through Feb. 2 are sprinters and, for the most part, are shorter and stockier than thoroughbreds.