In its heyday, American owners brought their horses to race at Oriental Park Racetrack during the winter, and future Hall of Fame jockey
Laverne Fator rode there in 1918, as did
Alfred Robertson in the mid-1920s and Cuban-born
Avelino Gomez. With American racetracks closed,
jockey Joe Culmone, contract rider for
Brookmeade Stable, won three races at Oriental Park on 31 December 1950, tying
Bill Shoemaker for most wins that year by an American jockey. Shoemaker won on the same day at
Agua Caliente Racetrack in
Tijuana, Mexico. Oriental Park is also famous for hosting the 5 April 1915 boxing match between
Jack Johnson and
Jess Willard. Many American celebrities on vacation or who were performing at the nearby
Tropicana Club visited fashionable Oriental Park Racetrack, as did Europeans such as
tennis star
Suzanne Lenglen. Prominent
hotelier
John McEntee Bowman, owner of
Westchester Country Club in
Rye, New York and president of
Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corp., which counted the
Seville-Biltmore Hotel in Havana as part of its hotel properties, served as president of the Havana-American Jockey Club, as did Harry D. ("Curly") Brown, owner of
Arlington Park in Chicago. In his book
Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life, author
Robert Lacey wrote that in 1937, gangster
Meyer Lansky gained control of the racetrack and casino. At
Calder Race Course in
Miami Gardens, Florida, is a wall in its Hall of Fame dedicated to the famous Cuban horsemen who raced at Oriental Park. Oriental Park also hosted automobile races in 1920. ==Thoroughbred races==