IRISHLADSTABLE
08-11-2004, 11:05 AM
This was written by a friend in Baltimore
They knocked the grandstand down in January of this year, so this may seem like an odd time to be talking about Bowie, but it's never too late to look back.
I didn't see them knocking the place down. I read about it in the newspaper. Apparently, from what I read, all you have to do to get a grandstand structure like that to come down is snap a few supporting cables and trip out a few of the right columns, and gravity does the rest. The grandstand was not an attractive thing to look at - it had stood like a misplaced tribute to steel and sheet metal with all the grace of something resembling a cross between bad sculpture and an airplane hanger. I can remember the first time I saw it and thought: "How could anyone build anything that ugly?" It was an eyesore, as the locals claimed, but hardly worse than the surrounding residential sprawl they proudly call home. The interior of the grandstand had no ceiling or soffits between the levels. You could see the entire skeleton of the structure - every steel beam, cable and column. You could appreciate how big the cavernous space of the grandstand was, even while wondering why it was left in such an unfinished state.
There had been a train many years before that took racing patrons right to the track. It had run on an old WB&A siding, through the woods and up to the back of the grandstand. On one cold winter day, it derailed and apparently killed three people. The old timers would tell you about the accident, always pointing at a place back in the woods where it happened, as they related the story. The place did seem to have its share of dark moments. On one occasion I was standing at the end of one of the rows of tellers' windows as some sort of commotion broke out near one of the windows. Apparently, a patron had just collected a sizable amount of money, only to have a young kid grab the cash out of his hand and make a dash for the exit. He fell to the floor in a hail of bullets about ten feet from where I was standing. Oh, racing's ultimate scandal happened there too. It hit with the impact of a train wreck and ended with a single gunshot which claimed one life.
Local racing icons Mario Pino and Dale Capuano both experienced their first wins at Bowie as did national icon Chris McCarron. Although -being strictly a winter track - it had no turf course, the dirt oval was a good one. Until its last few years, it ran fairly and boasted the longest homestretch of any track in North America. Like its nearby neighbor, the smaller summer track Marlboro, it's location was not appreciated by horse people and track workers. It was an awkward drive for many, and those at the low end of the pay scale, many of whom could not afford to own cars, could not find affordable housing in the single family, suburban development which had grown up around the track.
The neighborhood had become downright hostile to the facility, and to the people who patronized it. The traffic jams on Bowie Racetrack Road had become a real problem, and a solution was offered whereby the track would contribute funds to construct a new bypass which would give patrons direct access to the facility, without passing through the middle of the residential area. It never happened. The complaints from area residents grew louder even as the track crowds grew smaller. Since the track had been there since 1914, and most of the houses in the area are from the 60s and 70s, I sometimes wonder if these aren't the same people who buy a house next to the airport, then complain about all the noise the airplanes make taking off and landing. At any rate, when Marlboro shut down, the problem got worse, as it's Fall racing dates were moved to Bowie, and run as "Marlboro at Bowie" for a few years. The weight of its problems and the dwindling crowds finally did in Bowie. It closed for good after the 1985 season. Years later, the state legislature passed a bill which restricted the equine use of the property to training only, as if there could be some risk that racing might somehow find its way back.
The place never saw a simulcast, or slots, or a daycare center where patrons could stow the kids while they tried to figure out how to hit the big one, but it did have 9 live horse races, some pretty good jocks, and the basics of what you needed to enjoy a day at the races. It's all about winning anyway, I guess. If you have a winning day, you've had a good day, and the track is your special place. If not, you notice the bad things and how long the trip home is. Maybe those bad days made Bowie look a little worse than it was, but I remember the it as being as good a track for handicapping as any I've ever experienced, so I was saddened to see it finally, and officially, fade into a thing of the past.
So, what happened to all the track records, riding and training championships? Well, when there's no grandstand, there are no people, and when there are no people, those things don't matter any more. It's kind of like the tree in the forest.
You can still see Bowie - it appears as "BOW" next to the workouts on a lot of horses - some pretty good ones too.
Ken
They knocked the grandstand down in January of this year, so this may seem like an odd time to be talking about Bowie, but it's never too late to look back.
I didn't see them knocking the place down. I read about it in the newspaper. Apparently, from what I read, all you have to do to get a grandstand structure like that to come down is snap a few supporting cables and trip out a few of the right columns, and gravity does the rest. The grandstand was not an attractive thing to look at - it had stood like a misplaced tribute to steel and sheet metal with all the grace of something resembling a cross between bad sculpture and an airplane hanger. I can remember the first time I saw it and thought: "How could anyone build anything that ugly?" It was an eyesore, as the locals claimed, but hardly worse than the surrounding residential sprawl they proudly call home. The interior of the grandstand had no ceiling or soffits between the levels. You could see the entire skeleton of the structure - every steel beam, cable and column. You could appreciate how big the cavernous space of the grandstand was, even while wondering why it was left in such an unfinished state.
There had been a train many years before that took racing patrons right to the track. It had run on an old WB&A siding, through the woods and up to the back of the grandstand. On one cold winter day, it derailed and apparently killed three people. The old timers would tell you about the accident, always pointing at a place back in the woods where it happened, as they related the story. The place did seem to have its share of dark moments. On one occasion I was standing at the end of one of the rows of tellers' windows as some sort of commotion broke out near one of the windows. Apparently, a patron had just collected a sizable amount of money, only to have a young kid grab the cash out of his hand and make a dash for the exit. He fell to the floor in a hail of bullets about ten feet from where I was standing. Oh, racing's ultimate scandal happened there too. It hit with the impact of a train wreck and ended with a single gunshot which claimed one life.
Local racing icons Mario Pino and Dale Capuano both experienced their first wins at Bowie as did national icon Chris McCarron. Although -being strictly a winter track - it had no turf course, the dirt oval was a good one. Until its last few years, it ran fairly and boasted the longest homestretch of any track in North America. Like its nearby neighbor, the smaller summer track Marlboro, it's location was not appreciated by horse people and track workers. It was an awkward drive for many, and those at the low end of the pay scale, many of whom could not afford to own cars, could not find affordable housing in the single family, suburban development which had grown up around the track.
The neighborhood had become downright hostile to the facility, and to the people who patronized it. The traffic jams on Bowie Racetrack Road had become a real problem, and a solution was offered whereby the track would contribute funds to construct a new bypass which would give patrons direct access to the facility, without passing through the middle of the residential area. It never happened. The complaints from area residents grew louder even as the track crowds grew smaller. Since the track had been there since 1914, and most of the houses in the area are from the 60s and 70s, I sometimes wonder if these aren't the same people who buy a house next to the airport, then complain about all the noise the airplanes make taking off and landing. At any rate, when Marlboro shut down, the problem got worse, as it's Fall racing dates were moved to Bowie, and run as "Marlboro at Bowie" for a few years. The weight of its problems and the dwindling crowds finally did in Bowie. It closed for good after the 1985 season. Years later, the state legislature passed a bill which restricted the equine use of the property to training only, as if there could be some risk that racing might somehow find its way back.
The place never saw a simulcast, or slots, or a daycare center where patrons could stow the kids while they tried to figure out how to hit the big one, but it did have 9 live horse races, some pretty good jocks, and the basics of what you needed to enjoy a day at the races. It's all about winning anyway, I guess. If you have a winning day, you've had a good day, and the track is your special place. If not, you notice the bad things and how long the trip home is. Maybe those bad days made Bowie look a little worse than it was, but I remember the it as being as good a track for handicapping as any I've ever experienced, so I was saddened to see it finally, and officially, fade into a thing of the past.
So, what happened to all the track records, riding and training championships? Well, when there's no grandstand, there are no people, and when there are no people, those things don't matter any more. It's kind of like the tree in the forest.
You can still see Bowie - it appears as "BOW" next to the workouts on a lot of horses - some pretty good ones too.
Ken