Last Race at Longacres

[jballscalls]

I know some of you here loved old Longacres like I do. I was able to get a video copy of the last race ever run there and put it on youtube. Hope you guys enjoy.

Gary Henson let the race go silent with the exception of saying at the 7/8ths pole "Ladies and Gentlemen, these horses belong to you. Listen to their final thunder"

Gary Stevens won the race!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_TpIkZ9C4M

[kingfin66]

Way cool! Thanks for sharing!

[NJ Stinks]

Fantastic! :ThmbUp::ThmbUp:

I can remember playing Longacres late in Vegas many a time.

[HuggingTheRail]

Thanks for posting..Longacres is the only 1 mile track I have been to for live racing, went there once in 1989. Keep saying I will make the drive to Emerald...maybe this year!

[Krudler]

Thanks for the post. Longacres closed before I started as a horseplayer but I've been to Rention and the site of the former track. The video gave me a new perspective on the place.

[dilanesp]

I saw a handful of Longacres miles there. It was a beautiful track, much nicer than Emerald, and in a better location. And there has been very little development there- what a waste.

[plainolebill]

It really was beautiful track. Thanks for posting the link.

[barn32]

It's a crying shame they lost that track.

[Dave Schwartz]

That was one of my favorite tracks to bet.

Back in the 80s when I was playing full time, it would be the track that often closed my night.

Thanks for posting that, Balls.

[MEC]

Lot of memories... worked there in the 60's along with a few other tracks that are gone now. Bloody shame to lose a track like Longacres.

[jballscalls]

If you go walk the old Longacres grounds, as a poster above indicated, they haven't really developed much outside of a building at the 3/8ths pole. The path of the track is still cut out, the poplar trees still stand and the old green rail/wall is still partly there. It's haunting.

Here's a link to a great documentary about Longacres. It's really great.

http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=4030727

[chrisl]

Longacres brings back many memories of my Dad. When I turned 10 which was the age you could go to the track. I spent the season pretty much every Saturday during the summer learning how to handicap with my Dad. I would get 20 bucks and do the ole odd man out morning line method. My Dad would place my bets for me. If I stayed in hot dogs and pops all day I was winning. I remember the standing prime rib BBQ sandwiches, oh my goodness they were so good. Great place...A lot of good memories with mom and dad there.

[jballscalls]

Longacres brings back many memories of my Dad. When I turned 10 which was the age you could go to the track. I spent the season pretty much every Saturday during the summer learning how to handicap with my Dad. I would get 20 bucks and do the ole odd man out morning line method. My Dad would place my bets for me. If I stayed in hot dogs and pops all day I was winning. I remember the standing prime rib BBQ sandwiches, oh my goodness they were so good. Great place...A lot of good memories with mom and dad there.

Basically parallels my experiences there as a youth. My mom would give me $20 each sunday, enough to put $2 a race. My dad would take the twenty and would make my bets for me. Until I hit an exacta of Captain Condo over Grandstand Gabe in the 1990 Space Needle Handicap. It paid like 45 bucks and I asked my dad for the money and he said "I'll get it to you on Wednesday"

turns out he was just pocketing the 20 and booking my action. Mom was pissed when I tattled on him LOL

[chrisl]

Oh that is funny JB. I remember my first exacta at Longacres, I was so stoked. I had the money spent on a new bike, I was spinning in circles. My father just let me go, until he told me "hey you won $22 bucks" I was completely devastated. Good times

[dilanesp]

If you go walk the old Longacres grounds, as a poster above indicated, they haven't really developed much outside of a building at the 3/8ths pole. The path of the track is still cut out, the poplar trees still stand and the old green rail/wall is still partly there. It's haunting.

Here's a link to a great documentary about Longacres. It's really great.

http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=4030727

Here's the track now. You can see how little of it has been developed, 21 years later:

https://maps.google.com/?ll=47.461566,-122.235346&spn=0.008835,0.021136&t=h&z=16

[jrhollywood]

Here's the track now. You can see how little of it has been developed, 21 years later:

https://maps.google.com/?ll=47.461566,-122.235346&spn=0.008835,0.021136&t=h&z=16

Thanks for the link. I'm relatively new to the horse races (3-4 years), so Long Acres was never on my radar... knew it was somewhere around Seattle but long gone. I actually lived in Renton maybe a mile from where this is, I had no idea. Next time I'm back up there I'll go check out the area.

[kinznk]

I only went to Longacres once, that I can remember. I was about 10-12 and went with my dad. I can't recall the exact date but I do know that Prince Perry won the final race of the day with Basil Frazier on board. Equibase shows he won a few last race of the days so I can't pinpoint it. He was one of my big plays of the day. So was a horse by the name Hustlin Lil. However, I can't find her in the Equibase database. I know she finished second that day. I am probably spelling the name wrong, so if anyone remembers this nondescript horse I'd appreciate it. My best memories of Longacres was summer vacation in the early to mid 80s. It seemed like everyday during summer from 12 to 1230 on some goofy channel they replayed all the races. I watched that show religiously. At one point I think I knew most of the horses there.