The Mystique of Veliefendi Race Course

The Mystique of Veliefendi Race Course

By Kathy Weingart
The Daily Party
November 23, 2022

Veliefendi Race Course (Turkish: Veliefendi Hipodromu) is a horse racing track located at Veliefendi neighborhood in Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul, Turkey.

It is country's oldest and biggest race course founded on a former grassland that was historically a farm belonging to Şeyhülislam Veliyüddin Efendi, an 18th-century superior authority of Islam in the Ottoman Empire. The race course was constructed in the years 1912/13 by German specialists upon the initiative of Enver Pasha.

The race course hosts also music events. In 2006, Turkish pop singer Nez held a concert.

The race course covers an area of 59.6 ha (147 acres) consisting of facilities for racing, training and barns. The race course has three interleaved tracks as:

• a 2,020 m (2,210 yd) long and 27–36 m (89–118 ft) wide turf oval,
• a 1,870 m (2,050 yd) long and 17.5–19 m (57–62 ft) wide synthetic track for all-weather racing and
• a 1,730 m (1,890 yd) long and 16–17 m (52–56 ft) wide sand oval for training.

The track's seating capacity is 7,600. The complex comprises offices, a museum, an exhibition hall, a racehorse hospital, an apprentice training center as well as social and recreational facilities.

During a race on July 31, 1949, four race horses, including two favourite horses, did not leave the starting gate upon the referee's start sign, and were disqualified. The bettors protested about a possible swindle by the referees and the racehorse owners, and demanded a rerun. As the referee commission rejected the demand, the crowd set the referee tower, the bleachers, the administration and box offices on fire.

In July 1953, bettors threw at horsemen with stones and beat a jockey named Muhacir Ahmet (literally: Ahmet The Immigrant) they believed he had swindled. Two years later local newspapers published about swindels at Veliefendi Race Course, and during a race on July 13, 1955, the bettors stoned the administration building, and Muhacir Ahmet was beaten once again.

In 2008, the track held its first-ever farewell ceremony for a racehorse, honoring Ribella, a popular mare.