The United States boasts an array of iconic racetracks that provide an idyllic setting for an afternoon of Thoroughbred racing blended with local culture and rich history. Likewise, there is no shortage of destination-type sporting venues in the U.S., where the atmosphere is as much a part of the experience as the game.

Several of these venues have a lot in common, so let’s match racing’s historic tracks with some venerable sports venues.

Saratoga Race Course – Wrigley Field

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At 153 years old, Saratoga is the oldest racetrack in America. The fact that it’s the oldest is important to the track’s identity and charm. One thing you’ll hear from visitors to Saratoga Race Course (and the city of Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) is that going to the track feels like walking back in time. Much of the track is exactly as it was more than a century ago.

There haven’t been a lot of modernizing upgrades to the wooden grandstands and facilities. It hasn’t been ensconced in mortar and glass. It hasn’t added on a glitzy casino. Traditions are important at Saratoga.

This is why Saratoga has more in common with Wrigley Field than baseball’s oldest ballpark, Fenway Park in Boston. While Fenway has a few years on Wrigley, Fenway has also gone in for a few facelifts over the years. Wrigley still preserves a lot of its old-world charm. So much so, in fact, that Wrigley didn’t even install lights until 1988.

Churchill Downs – Yankee Stadium

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Churchill Downs, much like Yankee Stadium, is one of the most famous and storied sporting arenas in America. And also like Yankee Stadium, Churchill Downs has grown through the years to meet the expectation of holding a marquee national sporting event. Yankee Stadium today bares little resemblance to the Yankee Stadium of yesterday. And a day at Yankee Stadium can cost you a pretty penny in concessions from their world-class vendors. But even though Yankee Stadium isn’t the same place that the Bronx Bombers once called home, a visit today doesn’t feel any less historic.

Churchill Downs, too, has upgraded quite a bit over the years to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of visitors that come to the Kentucky Derby each year. It still has a lot of the feel of an old, venerated institution while also feeling like a modern, sleek facility up to the task of hosting a huge event like the Kentucky Derby.

Hialeah Park – Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

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Once upon a time, Hialeah Park was considered one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world. The Miami-area racetrack was famous for its lavish infield gardens stocked with pink flamingos. The setting for the famous horse racing film “Let It Ride,” Hialeah was a popular racetrack through much of the 20th Century until it closed in 2001 because of an inability to schedule dates that did not conflict with Gulfstream Park or Calder Race Course (now Gulfstream Park West) in Florida. The track remained shuttered until 2010 when it was allowed to reopen, but only for Quarter Horse racing.

L.A. Memorial Coliseum was home to the 1932 and the 1984 Olympic games, and has been the on again, off again home of Los Angeles football teams throughout the years as well. From 1982 through 1994, the Coliseum was home to the National Football League’s Raiders, but after that team left for Oakland, the stadium was without an NFL tenant for the next two decades. Last year, the Rams franchise moved back to L.A. from St. Louis and the team was granted permission to play in the Coliseum while they waited for their new stadium to be completed. I’m not saying that the Rams are the NFL’s equivalent of Quarter Horse racing at Hialeah, but I guess I kind of am.

Santa Anita Park – Augusta National

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There are a lot of great things about Santa Anita Park … from its fascinating history to what a comfortable place it is to watch the races. But the one thing that everyone who visits Santa Anita for the first time always says is, “Wow, what a view!”

The San Gabriel Mountains provide a breathtaking backdrop to the racecourse and they never fail to impress guests, even long after their first trip to the track!

Augusta National also has a fascinating history and has been the site of much sporting legend through the years. But what people remember from their first time at Augusta National is the view from “Amen Corner,” which might be the most beautiful corner in all of God’s green earth.

Pimlico Race Course – Louisiana State University’s Tiger Stadium

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Some people call Tiger Stadium Death Valley. Others call it Deaf Valley. What they all mean to say is that Tiger Stadium at night during a LSU Tigers game is one of the loudest, wildest venues in all of American sports. At a capacity of more than 100,000 people, the Baton Rouge bowl is one of the largest football stadiums in the United States

It’s cute, really, considering that Pimlico crams well over 100,000 fans into tiny “Old Hilltop” year after year for the Preakness Stakes. And anyone who has ever dared to cross the tunnel beneath the track into the infield during Preakness knows that no matter how loud and boisterous it can get in Tiger Stadium, the Maryland Preakness faithful can do one better.

Oaklawn Park – Madison Square Garden

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Sure, I’m biased here. I’m an Arkansas native who lives in New York and loves the Knicks with all of my heart. But hear me out; I think this one makes sense.

Madison Square Garden remains to this day one of the last major sports arenas in the United States to not sell their naming rights to a corporation. It is now as it has always been – Madison Square Garden. Not Chase Arena or Madison Sprint Garden or the Bed Bath and Beyond Center.

Similarly, Oaklawn remains one of the last family-owned racetracks in the United States and, as a result, has kept much the same look and feel over the many years it has been in operation, save for the addition of a casino in recent years.

Still, Oaklawn hasn’t had to sell to a big company so far because the track actually does pretty decent numbers, even before the casino but especially now. On-site attendance and handle has always been impressive compared with other tracks, especially the ones in similar-sized markets.