History
A largely unmaintained field for the first century of its existence, the area that would become Good Time Park was originally called Fiddler's Green. At the beginning of the 19th century it, was a common meeting place for local races, training, and breeding. Use died out around 1820, and it was largely forgotten until 1899, when it was refurbished to be used to train trotters. Sports promoter and horse owner William H. Cane bought the land in 1926, named the new track Good Time Park, and began to hold races there. By 1927, it had become a Grand Circuit track, with a large stables and a 2,224-seat grandstand.
The first Hambletonian in Goshen was held on August 27, 1930, and was broadcast on the radio by the Columbia Broadcasting Company. The victory purse of $58,859.00 was won, after three heats, by Tom Berry driving Hanover's Bertha. The Hambletonian was held at Good Time Park for the next 26 years, with the exception of 1943, when wartime gas shortages caused it to be moved to Empire City Track in Yonkers. After Cane's death in 1956, conflicts over the administration of the sport caused the race to be moved out of New York State, to DuQuoin, Illinois. It was intended as a two-year stopgap measure, but the Hambletonian never returned to Goshen.
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