Originally called East Park, it opened for business in 1889, making it Vancouver's longest continuously used professional sports facility.

The racing operation is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which acquired the lease of the city-owned track in 2004.

[3] July 1, 1939 marked the first time thoroughbred racing used an electric starting gate, the invention of Texan Clay Puett.

[4] Following Canada's declaration of war on Imperial Japan in 1942, Hastings Racecourse was used to house and process Japanese Canadians before being sent to internment camps in the interior of British Columbia.

[5] On the first Monday in August, a public holiday, the track hosts BC Cup Day that features a series of six races for top Thoroughbreds in various classes.