The earliest record of harness racing at the Audubon Raceway on the Evansville Road, a 4 furlong oval dirt track, was on 4th July 1955 when a crowd in excess of 7000 attended, but within a year it had relaunched as a thoroughbred racetrack. It was the brainchild of Francis Stader, an entrepreneur from Evansville, and was based in Henderson, close to the Ohio River, with the facilities to seat 3200 in its grandstand, while there was also a separate Clubhouse which could take up to 450 more. Seldom did the Raceway get filled to capacity. Despite switching to thoroughbred races the appeal to the locals did not increase and racing ceased in 1958. There was a six year lapse in racing until in 1964 the track and its facilities were sold for $100,000. After a few more exchange of contracts the former Audubon Raceway relaunched as the Midwest Harness track in 1975.

Between 1975 and 1978 the track operated, albeit precariously, as Midwest Harness until it returned to its former name, Audubon Raceway, in 1979. In that year tragedy struck when a fire in the stables broke out an about 20 horses died in the incident. However, it continued to race until 1986 when bankruptcy was threatened. A second lifeline was thrown in 1987 when a group of racing enthusiasts bought the track and relaunched it, once again, as Western Kentucky Harness Raceway, a situation which lasted for barely a year.

The racetrack saga continued in 1988 when the track reopened yet again as Riverside Downs, operating as a quarter horse track. By 1990 the operators switched back to thoroughbreds and offered a programme of harness races, but it all ended in 1993 and the track was used primarily for training purposes.

ISBN 978-0-9957632-0-3

652 pages

774 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-1-0

352 pages

400 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-2-7

180 pages

140 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-3-4

264 pages

235 former courses