The Many Loves of my Life

[joemama]

SHit, impressive list but reading it reminded me that I forgot the Fairgrounds.Nice list

[joemama]

Where the hell is Jefferson Downs?

[joemama]

Been close but it was just too far out of the way.

[joemama]

Aurora, that\'s a good one.  Must be in the midwest. Springfield, Ill.?

[JimP]

Was, not is. Kenner, LA. New Orleans suburb.

[johnnym]

Can\'t talk about it

[joemama]

Heard of Kenner when I was down there. Had to be before the mid  to late 70\'s.

[SoCalMan2]

joemama Wrote:
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> Wow now that\'s a list. What are the asterisks for?
>  Too bad you missed the original Garden State
> Park.  I grew up 5 miles from there. Closest thing
> to Churchill Downs before it came to be what it is
> today.  There\'s a video on youtube recording the
> day it burned down. And I forgot Keystone.  Had a
> picture in the winners circle at that place being
> a hot walker.

Asterisks were for racetracks that were what I would call \"twin tracks\"  They were located so close to each other that you could easily walk from one to the other.  My recollection is that Hawthorne and Sportmans Park actually shared the same parking lot (although I do not remember if was a real street or not that went through the middle of that parking lot).  

That also reminds me that for some reason, I always find racetrack parking lots to be very emotional places.  When you arrive, there is the excitement.  Parking so far away and the walk approaching the place with all the build up.  The whole running to catch the Daily Double (knowing if you got there in time you would lose, but if you got shut out you would have won and it always seemed better to have bet and lost than to have never bet at all).  Of course, there is then the return to the parking lot afterwards in all sorts of different moods.  Nowadays, racetrack parking lots are ghost towns, but back in the day, there were seas of cars (I guess Belmont still has seas of cars, but that is just because they lease out all their spare lots).  It would be very hard for me to choose my favorite racetrack parking lot but I get wistful thinking about them

[richiebee]

SoCalMan2 Wrote:
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> It would be very hard for
> me to choose my favorite racetrack parking lot but
> I get wistful thinking about them.

SoCal

The Union Avenue Parking Lot which adjoins the main property at Saratoga,
under the old pine trees, is a nicer place to hang out than half of the tracks on
my list.

[joemama]

All I can remember about Hawthorne and Sportsmans is getting off the train , taking the cab and ending up in a section of town called Cicero. Chicago is one great place to have spent some time in. (3 years) I remember that long walk into sportsman\'s park. I also remember betting trotters at Arlington Park.

[SoCalMan2]

joemama Wrote:
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> Heard of Kenner when I was down there. Had to be
> before the mid  to late 70\'s.


The track was on the shores of Lake Ponchatrain. I absolutely loved that place.  In the late 1980s, I had work trips to New Orleans, and they ran night cards out at Jefferson Downs.  You could go catch a full card at night after work.  A legendary event happened there when one of the Carmouches had the idea of hiding his horse in the fog in a three turn race and skipping a whole lap.  He ended up winning by like 20 lengths but got caught because it was so obvious he hadn\'t run the full race.

Also, I used to love tracks with weird chutes or dog legs.  Keeneland still has its for 4.5 furlong races as does Santa Anita for the about 6.5 down the hill, but many other tracks had odd chutes.  Jefferson Downs had a similar one to keeneland\'s but because the configuration was a bullring, it got a lot more use.  Laurel had a legendary 1 mile chute (the Affirmed Alydar Laurel Futurity was on that course, with local fav Star De Naskra getting third if I remember correctly). Pimlico had no chute whatsoever and they timed the races right out of the gate, so first quarter fractions at Pimlico were always slower than everywhere else.  Saratoga also used to have a weird dog leg on the clubhouse turn of the dirt course if I remember correctly, I suppose it was to run a 1.5 turn mile, but to be honest, I just can\'t remember what they used the chute for.  there were also inner track chutes.  Not just the ones you see entering the stretch today, but they had ones entering the backstretch so they could elongate for example a 5 furlong turf race into a 5.5 furlong turf race>

[joemama]

Well I see that I am the only one that can claim to have been at the Singhapore Turf Club.  Must have been in the program you speak of.

[sekrah]

joemama Wrote:
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> Sek, I live up in Williamsport so I now have my
> limitations.  But good thing about where I live is
> am 3-4 hours to lots of good stuff.


Well how about that small world. I\'m 2 blocks away from Park Pizza.

[SoCalMan2]

magicnight Wrote:
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> TGJB Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It says something that most horseplayers have
> more
> > racetrack loves than actual girlfriends. Even
> > temporary ones. What it says is a little
> > complicated...
>
>
> Racetracks typically have a blended takeout of
> only 20% and so have a competitive edge.


I had to say it was hard for me to stop laughing after reading that one

[joemama]

That place had to be one of the first to do the night races back in that day.  Elsewhere flats were run in the day and if you wanted action you had to go to the trots at night.  I loved the New Orleans area when I was down there.  Even though it almost killed me,