Mijas Hipodrome
Costa del Sol Race Course which was opened in 1999 and boasts a race track which is 1.700m and 1.600 m long and 25 metros wide. The Racing initially took place in the cooler evenings and then out of season at selected summer weekends up to 2013. It has not held races since 2013 due to financial dificulties.
Horse riding facilities remian, with over 100 livery horse boxes in use many people use these stabling facilities to keep their own horse.
As well as training rooms for jockeys, there is a 9,600 metre jumping paddock plus another 8.000 metre training paddock where there are riding lessons and training available for beginners and seasoned riders. There are also wide sand tracks and tiered seating for up to 2,000.
Dressage events also took place from time to time.
There is plenty of free parking on site.
The other main horse race track in Andalucia is at Dos Hermanos, near Seville. More about horse racing in Andalucia.
Sunday Market
Every Sunday there was also a rastro market at the racecourse. It was located in the main square and has more than 250 stalls selling second hand items. This closed in 2019.
Go Karting Track
There was also a Go Karting track at the Hipodrome but this closed in 2015. More Karting in Andalucia.
Facilities still operating at the Hipodrome in 2021 are a veterinary clinic, an equestrian club with a dressage and jumping school, the municipal equine therapy center for children with different abilities, an athletics track, where a group of Irish athletes train, and a municipal concession gym next to the lake
History
The Mijas Hipodromo was launched in 1999 as the Ascot of the Costa del Sol. Somhow it was too big to be economical. Different horse racing concepts were tried, weekends, Saturday nights in the hot summer.
The most important race was the Andalusia Mijas Cup Grand Prix. It took place during winter, when the racetracks in northern Europe were not active. The Mijas Cup was the best equipped horse race on the Spanish equestrian calendar. Horses and riders from Europe and South America participated in the event.
With the crash of 2008 an already dificult situation became worse. The company lost 500.000 in 2011, 801,000 euros in 2012, 603,000 euros in 2013 and 1.7 million euros in 2014. The largest investment in the history of Mijas with more than 30 million public money was doomed.
The last racing meeting was on August 17, 2012.
In 2013 The director Antonio Maldonado resigned. Three years later, Mijas City Council announced an audit on the management company Recursos Turisticos de Mijas' and a three million euro hole was discovered. The company was declared bancrupt and went into adminstration and most of the facilities closed.
The Mijas town council now has full ownership of the land, the long wait is for the bancurpcy proceeding to complete on the insalations. Sadly many of the original building have now been vandalised.