For a stint while pari-mutuel betting was legal, from 1933-35, a horseracing track doomed by hubris existed on the Moss Park land. Back in the footpaths today, you might stumble across a fossil of an antique structure that some parkgoers believe was part of the stables. An aerial photo from the 1930s shows a circular trajectory on the spot (see photo p. 16). SMU professor and historian Ted Campbell verifies — it was called Hilltop Stables. Promoter R.B George in 1933 assured a Dallas Morning News reporter that “there is no guesswork to this at all. We are going to have one of the greatest racing stables in this country.” Campbell jokes that the name Hilltop Stables “ranks among dumb place names that must have seemed fanciful to developers.” The track was right in the flats along White Rock Creek, he says, “which we all know regularly floods the entire area.”
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