ICCKC Dog Trials

About this event

Horse racing has deep roots in Idaho, dating back to the horse-racing traditions of Indigenous tribes long before Idaho became a state. In 1970 the Boise Fairgrounds Track opened as Boise’s only horse racing location before quickly being renamed Les Bois Park a few years later in 1973.

The name allegedly stems from French fur trappers seeing the trees for the first time after coming through the surrounding desert and exclaiming “Les bois!” meaning ‘the woods’. The phrase also gave Boise its name.

For about 35 years Les Bois Park was a popular destination and the epicenter of horse racing in the state of Idaho. The track even launched the career of Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, who won his first race at Les Bois before going on to win over 5000 races.

However, by 2009 Les Bois Park faced its first set of several challenges when its lease was terminated by Capital Racing due to operating costs becoming too high to sustain. In 2011, the track was briefly reopened by Treasure Valley Racing, and historical horse race gaming was added in 2014 to subsidize purse sizes.

By 2015, however, the state of Idaho determined that historical horse racing was too similar to slot machines, which are illegal in Idaho except on Tribal land, and this eventually led to the permanent closure of Les Bois Track.

After the track closed, Ada County began imagining what the land could become. The site sits in the Boise River floodplain and connects directly to the Greenbelt, and that setting shaped the vision: a public park built around the land itself.

Years of planning followed. Funded with federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars, with no local property tax dollars used for construction. Ada County’s Park at Expo Idaho is a roughly 50-acre public park made up of restored wetlands, creeks, and native plants that wind through the site down to the river.

Some of the original racetrack’s story still exists on the land. The grandstand still overlooks the landscape, and the old observation tower has been repurposed as a sculpture, so you can see where the site has been alongside where it’s headed.

When the park opens on October 23, 2026, it will include a skate garden and pavilion, a roller derby rink, a nature playground, three loop trails, a food truck plaza, a boardwalk, and more.

The park, which will sit on the land directly behind the Expo Idaho grounds, is situated near the corner of Glenwood Street and Chinden Boulevard.

To learn more about the park’s grand opening weekend, October 23 to 25, click here