Could playing fields replace racehorses at Rillito Park?

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Could Rillito Park stop holding horse races altogether and use all the land there for playing fields? The park’s about to miss a third racing season.

Now, a youth sports advocate sees opportunity in the racetrack’s failure to re-open.

Horseracing is on hold at Rillito Park. Pima County which owns the place says it does not expect to have horse racing for the 2026 season but the question is is horseracing even in the long term future of the place?

Racehorses have run at Rillito Park for more than 80 years but the park’s had a rough run with seasons canceled because of problems like track operators who didn’t provide audits Pima County required.

The State of Arizona did an assessment of the historical value of structures on the site.

The latest effort to reopen the track with new operators failed when no one was willing to bid for the job.

The track is on a prime piece of land at River Road and North First. When it’s open, races run of weekends in the winter.

Part of the park already has some soccer fields but local attorney and youth soccer advocate Ted Schmidt says it’s a much better use of the land to convert the entire park to playing fields.

“There’s over 10,000 kids, 5000 adults that play organized soccer here in Pima County, all of which would benefit from having more soccer fields at at Rillito Park. But the same is true for flag football and and Frisbee. Frisbee and lacrosse.”

He thinks it would make more sense for the horses to run at a new track at the County Fairgrounds or in Marana.

Pima County Parks and Rec Director Victor Pereira says the county is committed to continue horse racing and may consider other sites for the long term, but for now if the county makes some repairs and hires a new operator, Rillito Park is the only place the county has where horses can race.

“As far as exploring other options, there are multiple users that use Rillito Regional Park. We’ve got our youth sports. We’ve got the horse racing entities. You’ve got our special events users as well, as well as the heirloom farmers markets. We have multiple stakeholders that are currently using property.”

But if the county finds a new group to run the track their contract may have a cap of five years. That would keep the county’s options open to find a new place to race.