Remington Park - Celebrating 25 Years in Oklahoma City

Featuring interviews with David Vance, first President and General Manager

In September of 1988, RemingtonPark first opened its doors to the public. Since then, we’ve put on over 31,000 races and survived through quite a tumultuous quarter of a decade. We’re proud of how far we’ve come since the first time our gates busted open - so in celebration of our 25th anniversary we’re going to take a look back at both the best and the worst of the last 25 years.

In 1988, Remington Park started as a dream in the minds of Edward J DeBartolo and David Vance. There’s no way to know for certain how the idea was developed, but we assume it was probably a product of conference calls on cinder-block sized cell phones - with the budget figured up with a brightly colored neon calculator watch.

“He called me one afternoon,” David Vance recalled about Edward DeBartolo the day it all began, “and he asked me to go to Oklahoma to do some research and give him a recommendation about the merits of building a race track there. After we made the decision to pursue it, I made weekly visits to Oklahoma for the next 12 months while continuing to help run Louisiana Downs. Soon after, the process involved daily discussions with architects and regulators, working on the design and development of the vision.”

Eventually the dream became a reality and Oklahoma had its first racetrack. Remington Park was an immediate hit in Oklahoma City, entertaining crowds of tens of thousands each day.

“I'm not sure exactly when or how it occurred in the evolution, but it eventually began to take on a world class, state-of-the-art image - even though there wasn't necessarily a conscious step in that direction. Remington Park took on a life of its own, as they say. It was easily the most exciting and rewarding journey I've ever been involved with in my career.”

By the early 1990’s, the world around RemingtonPark was changing quickly. The parachute pants and jheri curls of the 80’s turned into the track suits and crew cuts of the 90’s. The internet emerged, and emails replaced postal mail. The Hubble telescope was launched into space, and the cold war came to a close. Still, Remington Park was keeping the glory of horse racing alive and well in Oklahoma City. 

“There was a genuine enthusiasm from leaders in the state and the city to build a track in Oklahoma, but many of them have told me since that it has exceeded their imagination and objectives. It's funny, but as I look back, I realize how far we've come in the last 25 years!”

Very far, indeed! Remington Park now boasts more than horse racing (including the world’s best quarter horse meet). We’re also extremely proud of our world-class casino floor, our 5-star dining, and our unbeatable customer service. 

So looking forward at the next 25 years, what can we say? Certainly nobody could have predicted back in 1988 the way things have turned out today. But if we could, what would have been done differently?

“The vision and shared goals would be unchanged,” Mr. Vance believes. “but the industry has evolved so much over the last 25 years. I'm sure we would have done it with an eye on expanded gaming, the same way Global Gaming has done since assuming ownership. So the footprint would be different, but the hopes and dreams of those of us involved would be just as real, as they are today with Global Gaming and Scott Wells and the management team and all of the employees who take such pride in being involved with something so special. Global definitely has a sense of community that we embraced with a passion when we first opened.”

So who knows? Maybe by 2038 we’ll have jockeys speeding down the track with jetpacks. We’ll cure all diseases with a pill and have a casino on the moon. After all, everyone thought that beanie babies, furbys, and pogs were invincible – yet like most things they perished in the test of time.

But if there’s one thing that hasn’t wavered in the last 25 years, it’s the original vision shared by Edward J. DeBartolo and David Vance back in 1988. The dream, embodied in the power and resilience of a steed barreling down the track, that lives on today at Oklahoma City’s RemingtonPark.



RemingtonPark is Oklahoma's #1 sporting entertainment destination. Unlike any other casino in the area, we offer a unique blend of continually-updated casino games, live music, fine dining, and both live and simulcast horse racing.

www.remingtonpark.com