Traditional races
2 races on record in Turfdex
G1
2 races- Gran Premio Nacional
2500 m · Dirt · November · since 1884
- Gran Premio Polla de Potrillos
1600 m · Dirt · September · since 1895
Tracks
2 tracks on record
- Surface:
- Dirt
- Perimeter:
- 2,400 m
- Direction:
- Right-handed
Main dirt track, 28 metres wide. Drainage system allows racing in any weather.
- Surface:
- Turf
- Perimeter:
- 2,200 m
- Direction:
- Right-handed
- Last refurbishment:
- 2011
Turf track inaugurated in 2011, 20 metres wide. Complements the traditional dirt course.
Racetrack history
Palermo Racecourse opened on 7 May 1876 between Parque 3 de Febrero and the Rosas alfalfa fields, as the first formal horse racing venue in Buenos Aires. On opening day, available trams and trains were not enough to carry the public: around 10,000 spectators witnessed the first race, won by Resbaloso.
In 1883 it came under Jockey Club administration, the institution that created the Argentine Stud Book registering every Thoroughbred in the country. In 1885 the first edition of the Gran Premio Nacional was held over 2,500 metres, with President Julio Argentino Roca in attendance. The winner was Souvenir, ridden by an 11-year-old Uruguayan jockey. The track's history features legendary riders like Irineo Leguisamo, Domingo Torterolo, Máximo Acosta and Marina Lezcano, alongside horses such as Old Man, Botafogo —who faced Grey Fox there—, La Misión, Yatasto and Lunático, a Thoroughbred owned by Carlos Gardel.
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The original 1,600-person grandstand was replaced in 1908 by a neoclassical building designed by French architect Louis Faure Dujarric, with capacity for 2,000 people, still in use today. The Confitería París was added in 1911. The starting system evolved from the classic flag-bearer to mechanical tape (1918), then electric, and finally to automatic starting gates introduced in 1967. The Photochard photo-finish system was added in 1947, night lighting in 1971, and the turf track that complements the traditional dirt course was inaugurated in 2011.
In 1953, under the Peronist government, the racecourse was expropriated from the Jockey Club and renamed Hipódromo Argentino de Palermo. The same decade saw the arrival of the first female jockeys, and in 1978 Marina Lezcano became the first woman to win the Quadruple Crown, aboard Telescópico. In 1992, under the Menem administration, it was privatised and awarded for 25 years to H.A.P.S.A. (Hipódromo Argentino de Palermo S.A.); a 2007 decree extended the concession until 2032.
Palermo hosts 21 Group 1 races on the IFHA Blue Book and stages 118 race meetings a year. Its flagship event is the Gran Premio Nacional, for three-year-old colts and fillies over 2,500 metres in November, which together with the Polla de Potrillos, Polla de Potrancas and the Jockey Club at San Isidro forms the Triple Crown. In the last two decades the venue has also incorporated one of the largest casinos in South America, with over 4,000 slot machines plus roulette, blackjack and baccarat rooms.
Sources
Citations backing the data on this profile. Each row links to the original source.
- Whole profileHipódromo Argentino de Palermo — Sitio Oficial — old.palermo.com.ar
- Whole profileWikipedia ES — Hipódromo de Palermo — es.wikipedia.org