With the Race Track closing down in May 2004 a sad chapter ended in the history of Hungarian horce racing, which began in the1820s with Count Széchenyi.
When it was opened in 1933, the Race Track in Kerepesi Street was the most modern and beautiful racecourse in Europe. A french investor will build a 3-story shopping center of 30.000 square meters in its place. During its 71 years, the Race Track saw several booms and went through many difficulties. Its fatewas sealed in 1989, when the sudden spread of other types of gambling led to a decrease in visitors, and horce racing could not keep abreast of the times. Hungary is the only country when horce racing is not profitable.
Thus the Race Track makes way fot a shopping center, taking the excitement, the tips and the arrivals, the legends, the artists and three generations of gamblers with it. Of course the intricate and sometimes romantic story of Hungarian horse racing has not ended with the termination of the Race Track, but the fact remains that is a typically Hungarian story; this is how fairy tales end in Hungary.
Photographs and further information:
http://www.maimano.hu/ …