TIOGA OPENING NIGHT PICKS FROM A ROOKIE

[douglasw32]

For the Record...headed out there now here's the top 2 in the first 8, 1st listed is best, followed by the alternate.

Live video and result at www.tiogadowns.com

=======================================

r1...#5 Completed Pass / #1, Electric Star.
r2...#1 Camelot Red / #6 Be a tough man
r3...#2 Backyard Chef / #5 Praktical Man
r4...#2 C R Leader / ##5 Speed Trouper
r5...#2 Kampala / #6 Dukes blue diablo
r6...#4 Speed Pilot / #3 Ambro Wizard
r7...#4 Peace for lee / #2 Up front rustler.
r8...#3 Metro A / #4 B JS Cash Flow

----------------------------------------------------------------

I may end up converted...or broke, LOL !

[melman]

Hope you enjoyed your night Douglas and good results on your posted 8 picks. Three on top winners and two cold exacta's. If you like harness sent me a PM can give you some info.

[douglasw32]

Okay this was a cluster....To get a bet down you would have had to stand in line through two live races to bet the 3rd....

They were very very very unprepared for the turn out they got....

NEVER have I seen so many people ready to spend money and no where to spend it due to lines.

Oh well, so we left, went and got chicken wings at house of wings and I will ATTACK them when the novelty wears off and everyone has the video slots to spend there money on and leave the racing to handicapping ;)

But yes I was happy with my results first time out at a harness track...

AND it was VERY EXCITING... the rail had plenty of room at it, cause every one was standing in lines!!!

I will PM you if I figure out how to send one again...

[wilderness]

"Okay this was a cluster....To get a bet down you would have had to stand in line through two live races to bet the 3rd....

They were very very very unprepared for the turn out they got....

NEVER have I seen so many people ready to spend money and no where to spend it due to lines."

That was the norm before the late 70's and the new tote machines (such as we have today) were invented.

In the old days there were seperate lines for SELL and CASH.
Seperate lines for denominations.
Seperate lines for exotics.

It took the "Invisible Man" with thought and planning to get your bets down.

BTW, there were no four horse tri or super boxes, rather you called off all the combinations individually.
Nor were they "keys".

The track may only hire staff based on their long-term projections and budgets.
What would they do next week with the fifty extra tellers they might have used tonight?

At the very least they could have provided a plentiful amont of TEMPORARY SAM wagering machines for the experienced crowd.

[melman]

That was my thinking exactly Wilderness. Why not bring in extra SAM machines for the first weekend? I can see not going overboard with live tellers first just the first couple of nights but how much trouble would it have been to bring in some machines to cover for a few nights. If you go back Douglas try going all they way down to where the top on the lane is and watch the drivers "chirping" to there horses. I remember when the "new" Garden State Park opened it took about one week for that to wear off. :lol:

[wilderness]

"If you go back Douglas try going all they way down to where the top on the lane is and watch the drivers "chirping" to there horses."

It's even better Mel if you can somehow get to the backstretch (where there is virtually no noise from the grandstand). The fairs are the best atmosphere for these non-wagering enjoymments.

[melman]

Yes I agree with you on that Wilderness saw quite a few races from the backside at the old Brandywine and Liberty Bell racetracks. For fair racing the Little Brown Jug Day is awesome.

[wilderness]

Mel,
The best story that I have about noises at the track?

In 1973 (labor day weekend) I made a weekend trip from Michigan to NY.
Took in Belmont during the day and Roosevlet at night.

At Belmont, they were loading the horses into the gate in front of the grandstand and prior to the finish line (don't recall the distance as that was the only time I was there.)

As we all recall no matter how large the crowd was, there was always silence as the horses were loading into the gate.
One of the top NY jocks at that time was Marco Casanetda or something similar.

From the back of the grandstand at Belmont, a fan with a deep Bronx accent yells out!
" Marco your a mudder fupper!" (Course I've cleaned the phrase up)
Some small laughs from the crowd.
They guys repeatedly yells the same obscentity, each time getting angrier at Marco and each time more of the crowd laughing harder.

Funny thing?
I don't recall if Marco won the race or not ;)

[Tom]

House of Wings? :kiss:

[melman]

Looking over one of your posts again really took me down memory lane. The old Liberty Bell Park was crowded every night. First post at 8:00 PM but you needed to get there by 7:30 at the latest for a parking spot or else you were off to park on public streets. We would operate as "teams" one or two guys in the betting lines and another guy in the cash lines. One other guy watching the warm-ups. Lines for WPS and lines for the exacta. There was a dollar limit on the ticket size so a handy item used for the "cardboard" tickets was a rubber band. The track had there best tellers at the $50 and $100 windows which were the largest dollar amounts on a ticket you could get. Think a $10 exacta was the highest also. Still have some of those old tickets they were great you felt you really had something with those. :lol: Not sure if I asked you before but have you ever been to the Delaware Co Fair in OHIO for the Little Brown Jug?? It is one great fun day of harness racing. Would urge anyone who likes a good time to take a visit. Aside from the Triple Crown races and Breeders Cup day I think the "Jug" has more live attendance than any other race in the country.

[wilderness]

Hey Mel,
Those of us who wagered in the old days and those old multiple lines, can really appreciate today's methods.

Never been to the LBJ, it's always a Thursday. Many say that backstretch parties are more interesting than the races.

Many harness folks place the Lexington Fall meet "up there" as well, however with far less people.

For many years I had a goal to attend the Crowswell Fair in Michigan and made it about five years ago.

I don't much care for the big crowds.

[douglasw32]

http://houseofwings.com/

On the way to the track if ou come down 17 or whatever it is called now 81 towards binghamton, a little past the track if your coming the other way.

You order at the bar...small but if you want wings like they are supposed ot be this far from buffalo this is it.



And as for the SAMS I saw about 8 is all and all had lines bbecause there was a paid employee at the front of the line "teaching"eople how to use them.

Don't get me wrong I WILL RETURN it is very very nice and the harness was rather exciting...never noticed how close the horses heads get to the poor driver in front of them at times. lol

[wilderness]

"never noticed how close the horses heads get to the poor driver in front of them at times. lol"

When horses "get on the bit" (desire to go), they can be quite agressive, even hard or impossible to control.
If the driver in front feels too crowded, he may always shake his whip (generally hanging to the rear) in the rearward direction. This tactic generally frowned upon, however the driver behind should rightfully have his horse under control. (course when the drivers get back to the paddock, they can take to flogging each other to resolve their differences and tactics).

[melman]

"They can take to flogging each other" and that is a literal thing. The worst "battles" I saw were Eddie Davis and Donald Dancer they flat out did not like each other. The stewards had to step in several times as they went at it on the track also. One guy would get the lead and lo and behold here would come the other guy pressing him. Never an easy lead when these two were going at it.

Also Douglas when you go back also note the tail of the horse and how this can be a problem for the poor driver also. S-breds are a much safer game than the t-breds with far less breakdowns and injury. Not uncommon at all for a horse to have 40 starts in a year. I think that the driver (Hal Belote) killed in a racing accident at Harrington last month was the first I can remember in a long time. Last I remember was Shelly Goudreau (not sure of that spelling) and that was way back in the early 70's I think.

[wilderness]

"I think that the driver (Hal Belote) killed in a racing accident at Harrington last month was the first I can remember in a long time. Last I remember was Shelly Goudreau (not sure of that spelling) and that was way back in the early 70's I think."

Hey Mel,
Shelly died in 1982. His passing a tradegy as he was still a young man. Both lines broke and his head hit the track. Having seen Shelly drive many times at Windsor Raceway and the Detroit tracks, my fondest memory was on a horse named "The Flyer" at Windsor in the early 70's. During the race it appeared to me that Shelly gave the horse a good kick (not a hock brush) at the top of the stretch. Watched the replay twice and he drew his leg back so far that when he kicked the horse square in the backside, Shelly almost fell off the bike.
Shelly's HOF Bio
http://www.mi-harness.com/hof/0g0.html#SGoudreau
1970's Hoof Beats article
http://www.mi-harness.com/publct/shgdreau.html

Billy Haughton was terrible tradegy in 1986.
Billy wouldn't wear the new helmets which would likely have saved his life. Stanley Dancer stayed on Billy about the helmets and the tragedy haunted Stanley until his own recent death. Billy was loved and revered by most everybody in harness racing. Known as "the horseman's horseman". The best description (IMO) of Billy is given by Jim Harrson in the Bill Heller book on Billy Haughton (a must read.)
Two articles on Billy:
http://www.mi-harness.com/publct/wrhghtn.html http://www.mi-harness.com/publct/whghtn.html

There have been numerous other losses in harness racing due to accidents. As a rule they don't stay in the news long and before the internet they were generally not published outside the trade magazines.

They have been even more losses of harness racing indivduals in accidents and tragedies NOT directly in races, however only as a result on their involvlement in racing. Due to the long hours.
The worst tragedy I've ever read was the parents of Gene Riegle:
http://www.mi-harness.com/SBreds/Memor71.html#Riegle

One of the very worst racing accidents (resulted in the death of three drivers) took place August 6, 1937.
Walter Garrison, George Satterfield and Miles Fox.

It's unreal the number of website searches that I see in my visitor logs for harness racing accidents.

Horse racing is risky business. The people involved in the industry are well aware of teh risk and yet their love of life is so over-powering they persist in the work they enjoy.