In the mid years of the 960s, property developer Stephen Calder envisioned summer sporting in Florida. Around 1965, on the counsel of Mr. Calder, the Florida Legislature gave the nod to a bill permitting the move. Before this period, a fall racing meeting was held at the Tropical Park Race Track in Miami and the ensuing winter-spring sporting functions at Hialeah Park and Gulfstream Park located in Broward County. Early in 1970, Stephen Calder got a permit for summer racing but the scheduled meeting was shifted to Tropical Park since construction work was not over at Calder. On 6th May 1971, Calder Racecourse staged its very first day of horse racing. When William McKnight assumed ownership of Tropical Park, he announced his plans of closing the racetrack and changing the sporting dates back to the Calder track, of which he was one of the major owners. Racing stopped at Tropical Park in mid-1972.
The 1980s saw many renovations and extensive expansions as well as two important purchases. The first acquisition was by Bertram Firestone while the second was by the Kawasaki Leasings, Inc. Around 1992 the famous "Festival of the Sun" was unveiled. By early 1997, simulcasting was also unveiled. The handle was enlarged significantly and the racetrack increased its purses. In first two months of 1999, Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) bought Calder Racecourse for an estimated $86 million. Within the first few years of the century, the racecourse introduced the popular "Florida Million" as well as the "Summit of Speed".
Calder's Summit of Speed has nurtured numerous Breeders' Cup winners and Eclipse Award champions since its inception in 2000. (The Eclipse title is the biggest recognition given in American horse racing). In its brief history, the Summit of Speed drew some of the country's leading sprinting horses and jockeys, comprising Cajun Beat and Orientate who proceeded to register big wins Breeders' Cup Sprint races (Orientate in 2002 and Cajun Beat held in 2003). In the early months of 2005, Lost in the Fog emerged victorious at Calder, even though was later trounced badly during the Breeders' Cup competitions. The Summit of Speed emerged as the single greatest day in the long and illustrious history of Calder Racecourse. In 2004 alone, more than $10.8 million was betted on the well-attended auspicious event.
After a nose-to-nose race between Calder and the adjacent Gulfstream Park in 2013 and 2014, CDI and the Stronach Group announced a pact in which the Stronach Group would gain control over Calder's sporting operations, and CDI would run the Calder Casino. Shortly After the consensus, Gulfstream declared that it would launch a two-month racing meeting at Calder during the fall under the aptly chosen title Gulfstream Park West. With these, the changes, the racetrack's code for formal event programs was altered from CRC to GPW. Since this time, Calder Racecourse has moved from to strength to become of the most active sporting facilities in the United States.