carmineabbatiello
Well-known member
Thanks to you and NC. I enjoyed my trip to Churchill as well.
Mike Repole Piece
- Thread starter paultzman
- Start date
Take a trip to Monmouth Park this summer
Different class of racing than the other places being discussed.
billthetruth
Well-known member
Pimlico is a dump and in a very run down neighborhood.
But the infield experience on Preakness Day was fun.
Warning if you are over 30 years old stay out of the infield
But the infield experience on Preakness Day was fun.
Warning if you are over 30 years old stay out of the infield
Alumni Hall
Well-known member
And tickets are already sold out for many days at Keeneland.
From a race watching perspective, Belmont is the worst because of its size. The horses as they hit the backstretch are mere specks to the human eye unless you are using binoculars. Sure the sightlines may be great but what good is that if you can't make out the horses. From a historical perspective, I agree that the changing of the distance is diminishes the accomplishment if a horse wins the Triple Crown. The rebuilding of Belmont necessitated the move to Saratoga which does not have the configuration to allow a 1 1/2 race. During the first reconstruction of Belmont in the '60s they ran it at Aqueduct. when I believe Arts and Letters won it. I'm sure the decision was made to move it to Saratoga over Aqueduct was a purely a business decision as I am sure that once Belmont is reconstructed the imminent sale of Aqueduct and the land it occupies will be sold.
It is my understanding that he was there quite often, sometimes to the detrimeny of his other duties.
Had practices in the morning so he could make the Daily Double.
Moose
Well-known member
Jarvis spending time at the track
Mullin working 2-3 hours a day max
Lavin frequenting all the best restaurants of NYC
Rick playing golf all the time
We can't even get Danny Hurley with all the time he spends at anger management.
Geez when will we get a coach who gives all his time to coaching.
Heard Jarvis saved his losing tickets from the track and expected St. John’s to cover his loses.
Heard if Mullin did work more than a 2-3 hour day he put in for overtime.
Heard Lavin charged his restaurant bills to St. John’s University.
Heard Rick invites some of his players to play golf with him and wants St. John’s to pay him a second salary as a golf coach.
Heard when Hurley was up for the St. John’s job he insisted that if he was required to attend anger management classes that he be allowed to send his good friend Charlie Sheen in his place.
My top ten tracks I visited in my lifetime in order and why I rated them where I did.
1) Hialeah in Miami back in the day. Before being destroyed by a series of awful decisions made by the state of Florida around racing, this was the best place ever to go to the races. Beautiful on site aviary, Wild Flamingos prancing around the facility, gorgeous Spanish style grandstand with amazing sightlines, beautifully manicured dirt and turf courses and landscaping with botanic garden like floral designs and spectacular Palm trees and so much more. Horse Racing heaven!!!
2) Belmont Park - Big expansive views with amazing sightlines, a spectacular backyard, one of the best paddocks ever, tons of great parking, and tons of great seating, wonderful high quality race cards and great dirt and turf courses. Watching races there live is pure unobstructed joy. I personally am dreading the new Belmont Park which will return in 2026. Given the awful reconstructions of many racetracks (see Gulfstream, Fair Grounds etc.) my expectations are very low.
3) Monmouth Park - On a day like Haskell Day when the races are of high quality there is no better place to see the races live then Monmouth Park, the intimate grandstand does not have a bad seat anywhere, the paddock is well designed and the walking ring is a great place to watch the horses parade. There is no better place than Monmouth Park for viewing the races live and having a train from Penn Station to go straight to the track is incredibly convenient. My great sadness is during their 2007 Breeder's Cup Monmouth was hit by a monsoon that turned what should have been a glorious two day coronation for them into a Messy quagmire nightmare!
4) Gulfstream Park before the awful reconstruction. Going to the Breeder's Cup at Gulfstream in 1989, 1992 and 1999 enhanced my love for the Hallandale facility. While Gulfstream could not match its South Florida showplace counterpart Hialeah in beauty or ambiance (who could) it was still far better than most other places to go to the races to watch the thoroughbreds. Why they rebuilt this into the Shopping Mall and Casino like facility that exists now is anybody's guess but for racing enthusiasts no one I know bothers to go there anymore.
5) Santa Anita with the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains in the background! Santa Anita (the great race place) is a terrific place to go to the races. Rich in history, great racing, a good paddock and the wonderful Clocker's Corner to hang out at during morning workouts; Santa Anita is a must go stop for any racing fan.
6) Keeneland: The best things about Keeneland is being in Lexington, Kentucky where the center of racing, breeding and the Thoroughbred sales industry are all right there. The track is really nice and it is a good place to watch the races. The architecture and the landscaping are really great and if you can time a trip to be there when the sales are happening it is a must see. The sales experience and the on track sales pavilion are the best thing ever.
7) Arlington Park after the fire. I never attended Chicago's Arlington Park before the fire that destroyed it in 1985, but had the privilege to go there in the 1990s after it was rebuilt under the brilliant direction of Richard L. Duchossois. It was as good a facility to go to the races as there was. Beautiful architecture, great sightlines, spacious and really well designed and had everything that a preeminent racetrack should have. Sadly the facility stopped live racing and this state of the art modern facility was torn down in 2023. I am glad that Duchossois who lived to be 100 died in 2022 a year before his monument to Midwest racing was destroyed.
8) Woodbine in Toronto Canada, I went to the races several times at Woodbine. Including one time for Queen's Plate Day in 1990 and also for the Breeder's Cup in 1996. These were both wonderful days there. I must confess that I climbed a lot of stairs to go between the paddock and my seat but I was still under forty then and was in good cardiovascular shape. The track was large like Belmont Park and although the viewing was not nearly as good as Belmont Park it was still a very good place to watch the races live. The track has been redone since with the turf course now being the outermost course and the dirt track being replaced by an artificial surface and a second turf course inside of the artificial surfaced oval.
9) The Fair Grounds in New Orleans before the fire. Like Hialeah this was a great place to go to the races with a classic outdoor Grandstand, and the best food at a racetrack ever. A fire destroyed the facility in 1993 and my return there in 2000 found a terrible glass enclosed facility that made it impossible to have a good viewing experience of the races.
10) Longchamps in Paris France. During my one trip to Paris in September of 2012 I had the opportunity to go to Longchamps for Arc preview day. What a great experience!! The Paddock Area there simply was wonderful (probably the best of any track I was ever at). Watching races with the large expansive race courses was not the easiest thing to do but being there and seeing world class horses in the paddock and was very thrilling. Since then the whole facility has been redone and I heard it is far better now, but have not had the chance to go back.
Honorable mention to Saratoga. The amazing town, the opportunity for immersing oneself in racing culture and personalities there, the great restaurants and the bars and the pastoral country setting makes Saratoga the perfect place to go to the races. Unfortunately, the antiquated Grandstand has some of the worst sightlines ever to watch a thoroughbred horse race from. There are very few places in the whole facility where you can actually watch the races live with an unobstructed view. Also, although the backyard is a great hang out spot, the Paddock area is very poorly designed and keeps the fans at too far a distance from the horses. That said, it is still a must go to destination spot for Horse racing lovers.
Most overrated facility award: Hands down this goes to Churchill Downs! Besides the insanely overpriced seating and parking on Derby day, the track is essentially a dump in the middle of a bad neighborhood in Louisville. I get that the Derby is the signature racing event in the country but the customer service there stinks, the facility is impossible to navigate, it is a bad place to watch races at (unless you can somehow find your way up to Millionaires row) and the people that run the place are pretty arrogant in general. Caveat Emptor!!!
1) Hialeah in Miami back in the day. Before being destroyed by a series of awful decisions made by the state of Florida around racing, this was the best place ever to go to the races. Beautiful on site aviary, Wild Flamingos prancing around the facility, gorgeous Spanish style grandstand with amazing sightlines, beautifully manicured dirt and turf courses and landscaping with botanic garden like floral designs and spectacular Palm trees and so much more. Horse Racing heaven!!!
2) Belmont Park - Big expansive views with amazing sightlines, a spectacular backyard, one of the best paddocks ever, tons of great parking, and tons of great seating, wonderful high quality race cards and great dirt and turf courses. Watching races there live is pure unobstructed joy. I personally am dreading the new Belmont Park which will return in 2026. Given the awful reconstructions of many racetracks (see Gulfstream, Fair Grounds etc.) my expectations are very low.
3) Monmouth Park - On a day like Haskell Day when the races are of high quality there is no better place to see the races live then Monmouth Park, the intimate grandstand does not have a bad seat anywhere, the paddock is well designed and the walking ring is a great place to watch the horses parade. There is no better place than Monmouth Park for viewing the races live and having a train from Penn Station to go straight to the track is incredibly convenient. My great sadness is during their 2007 Breeder's Cup Monmouth was hit by a monsoon that turned what should have been a glorious two day coronation for them into a Messy quagmire nightmare!
4) Gulfstream Park before the awful reconstruction. Going to the Breeder's Cup at Gulfstream in 1989, 1992 and 1999 enhanced my love for the Hallandale facility. While Gulfstream could not match its South Florida showplace counterpart Hialeah in beauty or ambiance (who could) it was still far better than most other places to go to the races to watch the thoroughbreds. Why they rebuilt this into the Shopping Mall and Casino like facility that exists now is anybody's guess but for racing enthusiasts no one I know bothers to go there anymore.
5) Santa Anita with the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains in the background! Santa Anita (the great race place) is a terrific place to go to the races. Rich in history, great racing, a good paddock and the wonderful Clocker's Corner to hang out at during morning workouts; Santa Anita is a must go stop for any racing fan.
6) Keeneland: The best things about Keeneland is being in Lexington, Kentucky where the center of racing, breeding and the Thoroughbred sales industry are all right there. The track is really nice and it is a good place to watch the races. The architecture and the landscaping are really great and if you can time a trip to be there when the sales are happening it is a must see. The sales experience and the on track sales pavilion are the best thing ever.
7) Arlington Park after the fire. I never attended Chicago's Arlington Park before the fire that destroyed it in 1985, but had the privilege to go there in the 1990s after it was rebuilt under the brilliant direction of Richard L. Duchossois. It was as good a facility to go to the races as there was. Beautiful architecture, great sightlines, spacious and really well designed and had everything that a preeminent racetrack should have. Sadly the facility stopped live racing and this state of the art modern facility was torn down in 2023. I am glad that Duchossois who lived to be 100 died in 2022 a year before his monument to Midwest racing was destroyed.
8) Woodbine in Toronto Canada, I went to the races several times at Woodbine. Including one time for Queen's Plate Day in 1990 and also for the Breeder's Cup in 1996. These were both wonderful days there. I must confess that I climbed a lot of stairs to go between the paddock and my seat but I was still under forty then and was in good cardiovascular shape. The track was large like Belmont Park and although the viewing was not nearly as good as Belmont Park it was still a very good place to watch the races live. The track has been redone since with the turf course now being the outermost course and the dirt track being replaced by an artificial surface and a second turf course inside of the artificial surfaced oval.
9) The Fair Grounds in New Orleans before the fire. Like Hialeah this was a great place to go to the races with a classic outdoor Grandstand, and the best food at a racetrack ever. A fire destroyed the facility in 1993 and my return there in 2000 found a terrible glass enclosed facility that made it impossible to have a good viewing experience of the races.
10) Longchamps in Paris France. During my one trip to Paris in September of 2012 I had the opportunity to go to Longchamps for Arc preview day. What a great experience!! The Paddock Area there simply was wonderful (probably the best of any track I was ever at). Watching races with the large expansive race courses was not the easiest thing to do but being there and seeing world class horses in the paddock and was very thrilling. Since then the whole facility has been redone and I heard it is far better now, but have not had the chance to go back.
Honorable mention to Saratoga. The amazing town, the opportunity for immersing oneself in racing culture and personalities there, the great restaurants and the bars and the pastoral country setting makes Saratoga the perfect place to go to the races. Unfortunately, the antiquated Grandstand has some of the worst sightlines ever to watch a thoroughbred horse race from. There are very few places in the whole facility where you can actually watch the races live with an unobstructed view. Also, although the backyard is a great hang out spot, the Paddock area is very poorly designed and keeps the fans at too far a distance from the horses. That said, it is still a must go to destination spot for Horse racing lovers.
Most overrated facility award: Hands down this goes to Churchill Downs! Besides the insanely overpriced seating and parking on Derby day, the track is essentially a dump in the middle of a bad neighborhood in Louisville. I get that the Derby is the signature racing event in the country but the customer service there stinks, the facility is impossible to navigate, it is a bad place to watch races at (unless you can somehow find your way up to Millionaires row) and the people that run the place are pretty arrogant in general. Caveat Emptor!!!
that's awesome for very casual fans like me
definitely going to Monmouth this year
That is an amazing post. I never thought of Mommuth although I really enjoyed my times there. I was at a Haskell.
I grew up at Belmont so I loved so many aspects of it but Saratoga won me over as well.
Del Mar is one not on this list that I would recommend to everyone. Once I visit Keeneland I have a feeling I will feel the same.
I was invited to attend the Pennsylvania Derby this year but not expecting the old Philadelphia Park to top this list. I have also been to Delaware Park and Finger Lakes.
billthetruth
Well-known member
It begins and ends with Saratoga in horse racing. No offense but cant agree with any list that doesn't have the Spa and the Del Mar at 1 and 2
Saratoga Race Course is the Wrigley Field and Fenway Park of horse racing. For a horse racing fan it is "Heaven on Earth".
Grandstand is what it is because it has been landmarked. Can't do any construction on it.
You are not going to Saratoga for sightlines. That is what they made massive plasma screens for...lol
Alumni Hall
Well-known member
He was a member of the NYRA Board of Trustees for a few years. I attended a few private events with Coach Mike in the off season.
Alumni Hall
Well-known member
I’ve been to many of the tracks you listed in addition to many harness (Roosevelt, Yonkers, Goshen, Freehold, Liberty Bell, Saratoga Harness) as well as Tbred like Garden St Pk., Calder.
I went to Gulfstream Pk last month for the Fountain of Youth Stakes day. Had a great day there. Parking and admission is free, food was great, paddock area is excellent, easy to watch the races either in their backyard, sports racing book or on the rail.
Agree with Churchill being a dump, except for their racing Hall of Fame Museum. Love Keeneland (heading there this month) and Santa Anita. Next year I’m scheduling trips to Oaklawn Park and Fairgrounds.
For 12 years I was also a thoroughbred horse owner with West Point Racing, and other outfits. It was great as my owners license was accepted everywhere for clubhouse seating. Was part owner of 18 horses over my career. More than 20 Wins at Belmont, AQU, Saratoga, Keeneland, Churchill, Ellis Pk, And Gulfstream. Several black type wins along the way too in graded stakes. Trivia: who is the horse behind mine in the purple and grey silks…he beat mine at Belmont and went on to be pretty famous. My colt was post time favorite and got smoked!
Great stuff Ron!
Nice write up
I'll take a shot. Funny Cide.