Sam Houston Race Park

Sam Houston Race Park is a horse racing track located in unincorporated northwest Houston, Texas, United States. The park hosts both Thoroughbred and American Quarter Horse racing each year. The track strives to be a multi-purpose venue, hosting many festivals and events during its off seasons.

The race track hosts two live race meets annually. Thoroughbred horse racing runs from January through early April. American Quarter Horse races are held from late April through early June. The rest of the year the Park is open for simulcast racing around the world. The races run the gambit of maiden special weights and claiming to graded stakes and handicaps.

Sam Houston opened on April 24, 1994, and was the first Class 1 Horse Racing venue constructed in Texas. It cost approximately $90 million to construct. The Park was considered the fastest growing race track in America based on handle growth and quality of racing program over the past year several years. The Park is named for Sam Houston who was an influential general and later president of the Republic of Texas. Kirwin Drouet, the original founder of Sam Houston Race Park, named the Park after him because of his significance to Texas and the fact that the track is located in Houston on Sam Houston Tollway (Beltway 8).

Sam Houston bought Valley Race Park, a greyhound track in Harlingen, in 2000.

Sam Houston Race Park’s largest attendance was recorded on July 4, 2008 with an attendance of 32,177.

In August 2017 Sam Houston opened its doors to the equine victims of Hurricane Harvey. The facility made it through the disaster with little damage and flooding, so they offered refuge to over 200 displaced horses in the Houston area. Their racing barns were empty at the time due to the live racing season having already ended for the year.

In 2023, wagering declined 91 percent after they were no longer to export their signal to any other states due to an ongoing fight between HISA and the Texas Racing Commission.