Turf Paradise Race Course

Turf Paradise is a thoroughbred and quarter horse racetrack located at 19th Avenue and Bell Road, in the Deer Valley section of Phoenix, Arizona. It opened in 1956.

Turf Paradise is typically open for racing from early November through April. It hosts the Turf Paradise Derby for three-year-olds in February, a prep race for the Kentucky Derby (although the race does not offer any qualifying points).

Turf Paradise is owned and operated by local entrepreneur Jerry Simms, along with several partners. The Turf Paradise property had faced redevelopment after a real estate company entered into a purchase agreement in April 2023. It was reported in late September 2023 that the purchase agreement had fallen through and that a new buyer had emerged with the intention of continuing live racing at the track.

In 1954 businessman Walter Cluer, a successful millwork company founder and manufacturer from Phoenix, purchased 1,400 acres (5.7 km²) of barren desert at what is now Bell Road and 19th Avenue. Cluer, who was also a horse owner, dreamt of building a first-class race track in Phoenix.

Many locals thought Cluer's ambitious project was ill-timed and destined to fail, given that the property was 25 miles (40 km) from downtown Phoenix, and that the only way to get there was via a few badly maintained dirt roads. However, he forged ahead and on January 7, 1956, Turf Paradise opened its doors to great success. Cluer remained as head of the track for nearly 25 years.

In 1980, Herb Owens took over and Turf Paradise entered into a phase of renovation. A seven-furlong infield turf course with a one-mile and one-eighth (1.8 km) chute was added. The Clubhouse was enlarged and a Turf Club with penthouse-style Directors’ Suite and outdoor patio was also added.

Turf Paradise's third owner, Robert Walker of Scottsdale, Arizona, had made a fortune with an aerospace company he had founded and sold. He purchased the track in 1989 and moved it into the gambling field of off-track betting. Walker's formula seemed to be the right approach at the right time, as he retired the track's outstanding debt and declared the first-ever dividend for Turf Paradise stockholders. In addition, Walker and a consortium of horse racing interests successfully lobbied the Arizona Legislature to legalize off track betting (OTB). The in-state OTB network is perhaps Walker's most significant contribution to the track and Arizona's racing industry. What started out as a single OTB site in little Cave Creek (population 4,000) in 1991, has now grown to over 45 in-state OTBs and over 900 out-of-state locales, located in six countries.

Turf Paradise took on a corporate face in 1994 when the track was purchased in a stock acquisition by California-based Hollywood Park Racetrack under the chairmanship of Randall D. Hubbard. Despite intense competition from a number of Native American in-state casino gaming interests, Turf Paradise continued to flourish and achieve record mutual handle numbers.