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.

[3] 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.

[4][5] 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.

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).

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.

In April 2023 it was announced that California-based CT Realty had entered into an agreement to purchase the Turf Paradise property for redevelopment, with closing expected sometime during the summer.

[9] At the time of the announcement, an executive at the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association said his members were told that racing at Turf Paradise would continue between one and three more years while surrounding land is redeveloped.

[10] Later that month, it was reported that the sale of the Turf Paradise property had fallen through and that Simms found a new buyer to purchase the racetrack with the intention of continuing live racing.