Demolition at Saskatoon’s former horse racing track Marquis Downs, which operated from 1969 until 2020, is underway. Crews worked Tuesday morning to tear down the grandstands at the track that highlighted thoroughbred racing every May to September for over 50 years, until the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to the races. Efforts to re-open the track in 2021 didn’t come to fruition, and plans from Living Sky Sports and Entertainment to potentially use the site as the future home for a Canadian Premier League Soccer Team also didn’t move ahead. Last year Saskatoon city council voted to demolish the facility, saying the buildings were past their serviceable lifespan - a decision that wasn’t without its critics. “We’re doing it all in a month without any public consultation,” Cary Tarasoff, a frequent critic of city council, said at the time. Members of the horse racing community were also upset by the decision. “It’s a dagger through the heart of equine sport that the grandstand and track are being destroyed and reduced to a gravel parking lot,” the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association added. Once demolition is complete, the former Marquis Downs site will be turned into a gravel parking lot until there’s a new plan for the former track. With files from Chantel Saunders and Keenan Sorokan
