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strapper
12-05-2008, 12:14 PM
For me it was the historic Fair Grounds. I used to ride my bike two blocks and peer through the chain link fence with my boyhood companions. We'd pick up old programs and bring them back home and pretend we were racehorses. We'd run down the street against each other. I was always "Santiago" which was a grey by Oil Capital that was my first fav horse. I'd read the Times Picayune in the mornings to watch for his name when he would run. This was in the late 50's.

michiken
12-05-2008, 12:49 PM
My Aunt Shirley used to pile 4 or 5 of us kids into an old yellow Nova...

We would get up at regular school time in the summer and head over to Detroit Race Course and watch the horses workout. (We lived less than a mile from the track which is now a Home Depot, Costco and Meijer).

I didn't really understand the workouts at the time, but look what a horse racing degenerate I have become!

joanied
12-05-2008, 01:44 PM
1961...Carry Back. We'd moved from Brooklyn to Elmont...and just got a TV...shortly after we moved to Elmont I was with my mom driving to Franklin Square...and we passed this huge 'thing' on Hempstead Turnpike. Belmont Park...hhmmmm..what's that? A race track...for horses...ohboy, I already loved horses...a kid from Brooklyn, go figure... we drove up Franklin Ave and stopped...I looked through the fenceline and saw horses...lots of them...and when we got home I noticed that the newspaper had race entries & results....and that lead to me finding Carry Back, and discovered that TV had the races on every week, including the Kentucky Derby....I remember my dad rooting for Sherluck (I guess the name is Irish sounding, and he was an Irishman)...I rooted for Carry back and the rest, as they say is history....I was hooked.
And that started me on my quest to work with the TB. As luck would have it, I went to school with and became best friends with a son of the great outrider, Jim Dailey (he brought Secretariat back after his Belmont and was the outrider when Ruffian broke down ect)...and not too long after graduation...I was on the backside walking hots for Ira Hanford....I was one of the very first females on the backside...a pioneer and proud of it!!

Tah-Dah!!!!

Overlay
12-05-2008, 04:31 PM
Hearing the voice of Fred Caposella calling the race of the week on TV. Also watching a weekly televised racing show sponsored by a local grocery chain that gave out entry forms listing a horse in each of five races (with increasing cash prize amounts), where if the horse on your entry form won the race, you'd win that amount. I believe the races were from Sunshine Park (now Tampa Bay Downs), with Jack Drees as the announcer.

LottaKash
12-05-2008, 04:35 PM
Fond memories of the Turf Races at Monmouth Park,(60's & 70's) when it was a seashore resort type place.....Can still remember the smell of the grass, and the odd sound the hoofs made on the turf compared to the dirt.......miss it......:cool:

best,

GaryG
12-05-2008, 05:02 PM
I lived in So Cal for several years growing up. After school my dad used to take me to Santa Anita for the last race because they let you in for free. My first favorite horse was a stretch runner from King Ranch named Rejected. He was pretty competitive with the best hcp horses in the mid-50s. And the great Joe Hernandez. Then I started cutting school to go all day. Got busted once but that is another story.

kitts
12-06-2008, 01:52 PM
My first bet was a $2 show bet at Del Mar in 1949. If you were tall enough to reach the window, your bet was accepted-no age problems. Needless to say, I cashed that first bet for $5.40 and said "How long has this been going on?"

It was about 100 miles by train to Del Mar and I was only 14 and never understood why my mother permitted this vacation. It all started with a pinball-like horserace machine that you could accelerate your horse somehow and maybe win some coupons. You could redeem the coupons for toys but my buddy was way too savvy and learned the drill about exiting the arcade and walking outside to the popcorn vendor who redeemed those coupons for (very little) money.

And I also was a big fan of Joe Hernandez

Tom
12-06-2008, 04:10 PM
1960 something..Finger Lakes, Race 1, Morganfield, $28.80 to win. $2.00 ticket, from 4 weeks of 50 cent allowance on his nose.

The rest of my life is hazy.

Cangamble
12-06-2008, 05:12 PM
1975 at Woodbine. I was 14 years old and in high school. The form didn't keep records of lifetime turf starts back then, and Vignette ran on the grass against males in her only grass race. I was waiting for her to hit the turf. She finally did, and her only turf line was gone. The winner of the turf race against the boys wound up a stake horse.
Anyways, I think it was a 5 claimer on the Marshall turf course. She was in an entry with one of the worst horses ever All Forlorn (so she took none of the action).
I was in school that day, but there was a guy whose dad was an owner trainer, and he had a horse running that afternoon. Coincidentally my father and his father went to school together as well.
I asked Donnie if he was going to the track the next day. I thought that it would be a bit of a longshot that he would skip school for that, but he told me he was going. I gave him a whopping $4 and told him to bet the horse for me.
I hurried home from school the next day. It was the last or second last race of the day. Back then there was a local radio station that played the stretch runs on tape just slightly after races were official.
I heard the horse win. And then Daryl Wells gave the prices (I think Davies put Chris Rogers on the winner though his son Norm was listed on both if I remember correctly). I don't remember the exact amount, but she paid slightly over $100 to win.
I didn't have Donnie's number, so I was a bit anxious waiting to see if he'd come through with the money (maybe he will come up with an excuse was my fear).
But the next day at school, he came through. I gave him a twenty buck tip.

john del riccio
12-07-2008, 09:27 AM
1st trip to MTH Park with my mom & dad when I was 5. We sat in the picnic area. The smell of the place was intoxicating. They only had 8 races in those days. My mom read the names of the horses to me in each race and asked me
to pick one. I selected 5 winners from 8 races. My dad didn't bet any of them (the hard-core handicapper). My mom bet all of them. Needless to say, my mom paid for dinner....


John

Dan H
12-07-2008, 12:43 PM
Early 70's ... Cahokia Downs ... just across the river from Saint Louis.

We would pool our money together ($10.00 at the most) and let our buddy do the handicapping and wagering. Our goal was to win drinking money for the rest of the weekend. Sometimes we drank Budweiser, some times we drank Falstaff.

I still call that buddy once a month to get his win picks. I'm glad Falstaff closed their brewery down.

Dan H

cj
12-07-2008, 12:48 PM
My first trip was back in high school with two classmates. One is a current track announcer, the other a trainer at CharlesTown. We went to Bowie and hung out most of the day in the booth with Dick Wooley.

I remember that day watching a first time starter trained by Odie Clelland romp at big odds, and continued to bet him successfully in that spot for years until he died.

chrisl
12-07-2008, 01:43 PM
It was early 70's at Longacres race track in Washington state. I was 10 years old, so I could get in the track with my father. I would get $10 and run $2 show parlay's. My winnings would go to pop and hot dogs. I remember one day doing so good, I could afford one of those standing prime rib, bbq sandwiches, that Longacres was famous for..What great memories..Chrisl

dutchboy
12-07-2008, 02:25 PM
1985 Arlington Million. I had read that English horses preferred a soft turf which AP had that day.

So I bet a straight exacta Teleprompter (GB) with Greinton who I seem to recall was from Calif. It came in and paid something like 240. I can even remember where I was standing when the race was run.

Tape Reader
12-07-2008, 05:32 PM
My early visits to the track were not that memorable as I usually lost; Aqueduct in the 60's. However, last year was my proudest moment.

It has been a family tradition to visit Saratoga every year. Last year, my two granddaughters were very successfully playing a jockey/trainer angle. Late in the day they bet a speed horse in a long race. It was raining so we were all watching the race on the big screen in the clubhouse. The two girls, dressed to the nines with Saratoga fancy hats, were screaming their heads off as their horse was leading all around the track. They were actually attracting a crowd. Even the ticket lady was rooting for them.

At the finish, some jerk opined that their horse got caught at the wire. So What, my 7 and 5 year old granddaughters replied, we bet him for place.

oddsmaven
12-07-2008, 08:39 PM
My earliest trips were to Monmouth with my folks and I recall taking the old Aqueduct Special subway in 1971 hearing Fred Caposella during his last year.

The following year I went again and saw 2 yr old filly champ, Numbered Account at 1-5 fail to get up by a nose in The Comely Stakes and then enjoy hearing Harvey Pack's excellent recreation on the way home. As the Triple Crown was unfolding I realized I could go see those horses in person attending a Belmont prep, the Withers won by Key To the Mint over Icecapade and then seeing Riva Ridge roll to an easy victory in the 1˝ mile classic.

Those were thrilling years, seeing Secretariat compete quite a few times and other great champions.

DanG
12-07-2008, 09:52 PM
Started with Freehold raceway with my brother’s friend’s father taking us all with him. I was about 6 maybe 7 and bet #8 Consolidator to show and he did paying $5.60. The most memorable part of the experience was those “magic electronic pencils” :jump: scribbling out the prices at the windows.

This was followed closely by about 12 straight years at Monmouth almost religiously and like most TB players who cut their teeth on harness…trips / pace / ground loss / position and Herve Fillion’s helicopter became staples for life.

banacek
12-07-2008, 10:12 PM
Not my first bet, but the one I remember best. I was 11 and my grandpa said he'd make a $2 bet for me on the 1st race. Ruby Von paid $16.60. By the last race that day (Midnight Award $13.20), I had $37+ after paying him back.

P.S. It's amazing how horseplayers remember the names and pays from decades ago - despite my memory fading otherwise.

DanG
12-07-2008, 10:19 PM
P.S. It's amazing how horseplayers remember the names and pays from decades ago - despite my memory fading otherwise.

So true; good point :ThmbUp:

parlay
12-07-2008, 10:24 PM
1960 something..Finger Lakes, Race 1, Morganfield, $28.80 to win. $2.00 ticket, from 4 weeks of 50 cent allowance on his nose.

The rest of my life is hazy.

Thanks for the laff :lol: :lol:

toetoe
12-08-2008, 03:04 PM
Sounds impossible, but they used to sometimes show the feature from the SoCal track live in NoCal. The whole family watched it, and I remember Prairie Dog as one of the runners. Mid-60's ? Also, I stumbled upon the CBS broadcast of the 1964(?) Belmont Stakes, won by Quadrangle.

Fast forward to 1971, at Golden Gate Fields. I bet $2 to show on Laughing Gull, conditioned by the estimable ... well, Tom Estimo. He won, and I was THRILLED to get $4.80. My ROI since that day ? Uh, please don't ask. :blush: .

point given
12-08-2008, 07:26 PM
I think it was 1969-70 at the Big A. A few of us from the college dorm joined up with an ex exercise rider and his cousin from Boston who lived on the wing and made the dash to Queens from LI. Had little idea of reading the form but I made an inspired choice of Czar Alexander who paid like $38 . I was hooked. I think I lost it back at Roosevelt on the nitecap though. Ah , those were the days. I think gas was like 30 cents a gallon :eek: :lol:

PaceAdvantage
12-08-2008, 10:26 PM
Like many others, I started at Roosevelt Raceway and quickly migrated to Belmont Park. The rest, as they say....

As for memories my earliest are of Bet Twice beating Alysheba in the Belmont Stakes (I haven't been at this very long compared to some)...I had my dad place a bet for me on Bet Twice at the local OTB (he was never much into racing, except for maybe the Triple Crown races...my Mom is actually a bigger racing fan than my Dad, but that's not saying much).

That next year (1988) would be my first Belmont Stakes in person, and I've been to every one ever since...I like to think I've jinxed the triple crown....

Then came the obligatory reading of every racing book I could get my hands on, the development of countless "can't lose" methods and systems, stacks of DRFs, a Tandy PC where the Pace Advantage software was first written way back in the early 90s....dial-up bulletin boards, BRIS, Prodigy horse racing board, GEnie board, the Saratoga at Aqueduct simulcasts...

Some odd memories, eh? :lol:

thruncy
12-08-2008, 10:46 PM
TV Lark was entered in a 6f dirt prep race. On the way in a guy in the parking lot exclaims: "Well any horse that's made over 300 grand gets my money." TV Lark was a turf horse who liked distance. He finished out of the money. So much for class handicapping. At least in that domain.

so.cal.fan
12-08-2008, 11:49 PM
1961. I've attended every Santa Anita meeting since that rainy day in Feb. of '61.
47 years.
I think my father took me to Santa Anita around 1948 or 1949, because when I entered the front gates that day in '61, my eyes caught sight of the huge water fountain in the paddock, and it was like I had been there and seen that fountain before.

CincyHorseplayer
12-09-2008, 05:10 AM
Here in Cincy during the summer I was always a pool bum,Sunlite pool is the closest thing we have to the beach during the summer and it was right next to River Downs and my godfather used to take me over to the track with his buddies when I was about 7-8 yrs old.Never saw any champions but River is a beautiful and really accessible track.I was intrigued from the get go.But it wasn't until my early 20's that I made it back to the track around 1996 and I couldn't get enough of it.Like many of you I read everything I could and was always glued to a form.I would go to the track even if I didn't have much money to bet,just to watch,just to learn and go through the motions.One Friday between paychecks I went down about halway through the card,toting all of $11 dollars.Bet a horse named Tropical Ice with another horse in the exacta for $8,paid $100.60.The very next race I liked a horse called Beat The Press to 3 other horses,played another exacta and had a $175.00 payoff twice.$450.00 in less than an hour.Took my grandma out to dinner because she hated me going to the races and I told her it was compliments of the track.I thought I was king!!!

It is amazing how clearly you remember the names of long lost horses.But a mere 12 years later I love it just as much today as I did then.

Norm
12-11-2008, 12:51 AM
Way back in the last century, back in the '50s, a school chum and myself had become interested in the ponies. Racing was a featured sporting event in our local paper with charts, entries and commentaries. After a while, we became good at it. My buddies' Dad was a bus driver and sometimes we would hang out at the garage where we could be heard bragging about our skills. Y'know how it is when you are twelve and you know everything about everything ... well, a couple of the drivers thought maybe we needed a lesson or so and they agreed to place our bets for us with a local businessman who handled those type of investments. It was my first ever real bet, $2 on Golden Admiral, on the nose, in the 6th. The excitement and nervousness was unbelievable. I wouldn't know what happened 'til the morning paper came out. Next morning I met the paperboy as he arrived at dawn. Trembling with impatience I tore open the paper to the "racing sheets". There it was ... Golden Admiral, ridden by Walter Blum, had won by 7 lengths. I was ecstatic ... and then I saw the pay-off. Holy crap ! He paid $45.60 ! That was a lot of money to a young lad in those days. I felt like I had just won the Irish Sweepstakes. I still have the chart from that race. Would you believe, I've been a devout horseplayer ever since? But, I wish I still knew everything about everything like I did when I was twelve :)

CincyHorseplayer
12-11-2008, 09:51 PM
$45.60 at 12 years old in the 50's.

You must have drank so many Cokes and ate so much pez,you had your own Barf-O-Rama!!!

Liked your story Norm.It truly is amazing how much it gets into your blood.

alhattab
12-11-2008, 11:31 PM
My dad would take me and some friends on trips to see baseball games around the northeast. After a few years, we'd go to ball games during the day and harness racing at night (I was weaned on harness racing, having grown up near The Meadowlands). My most vivid recall is hitting Willvan Sam at 20-1 at the old Greenwood Raceway in Toronto after taking in a game at the X. Must've been 1984 or so (I recall my Dad listening to olympics boxing on portable radio). George Bell and Dave Steib were the big stars for the Jays. Two nights later we were at Hazel Park in Detroit. Later we used to lie about going to the library or hockey games, and go the Meadowlands. In 1984 they ran a day/night election day T'bred doubleheader. We got rides from our mothers by lying about what we were up to.

A year later I had to go on a job interview for a job working for a golf pro. The "interview" was on a Monday at Monmouth Park (back in the day sched was 6 days a week Monday-Saturday). I got the job, and every Monday during the summer we went to Monmouth. The horses I recall most from the day, other than the stars like PAs favorite Bet Twice, were Sister Dot (later dam of Dehere but during her day a tough turf mare I believe trained by Reynoldo Nobles for Due Process), and Weak Knees Willie, who was a J-bred I believe and was probably named after a "character" in Springsteen's Rosalita, but will forever be known in my circles as the first horse any one of my crew had $100 to win on (he won at 6/5). Back Bay Banquet (George Handy I believe) and Peanut Butter Onit (Forbes?) were my other favorite overnight horses.

My first trip to the Spa was at 14 in 1983. My sister was a freshman at Siena so my folks took me and a buddy there. Sat in the Carousel. I don't recall much about it other than Sweet Renee beating Femininity (my choice) early in the card. Didn't make it back until my girlfriend (now wife) and buddy stayed at Rip Van Dam and went on Jim Dandy day, totally unprepared for the number of people (arrived late, no chairs, etc, in 1992) one year out of school.

In college I'd take the train into Philly, then the bus from 10th and Filbert to Garden State Park. They ran at night during the week but on Saturdays they ran in the day. My "big day" there was hitting a $20 win bet on Monetary Tricks (at 6-1), then another $20 win bet on Dependable Deb (3-1) trained by Jeff Kirk. That was real money for a college kid. This must've been 1988 or 1989- I recall Univ. Rhode Island being real good college hoop team that year.

Cangamble
12-11-2008, 11:49 PM
Willvan Sam. I remember that horse. Did Harold Stead drive him?

alhattab
12-11-2008, 11:57 PM
Willvan Sam. I remember that horse. Did Harold Stead drive him?

I don't remember- I wasn't a big follower of the Canadian game- the only driver I knew who spent much time in Canada then was Ron Waples (all the big Meadowlands drivers- O'Donnell, Campbell, Doherty- seemed to be Canadian, but they were generally based at the Big M). I just recall sitting outside on a beautiful night. It was still light- maybe the 2d or 3d race.

cj's dad
12-12-2008, 12:30 AM
It's funny how some of the most obscure horses names can come to mind.
I remember the Laurel International which is no longer run and I had a horse named Laraveh(sp?) winning and paying about $90+ with Mario Pino aboard. Cashed for about $500 and treated everyone to burgers from Wendy's.

Hey- that's what they wanted.

Norm
12-12-2008, 02:56 AM
It's funny how some of the most obscure horses names can come to mind.
I remember the Laurel International which is no longer run and I had a horse named Laraveh(sp?) winning and paying about $90+ with Mario Pino aboard. Cashed for about $500 and treated everyone to burgers from Wendy's.

Hey- that's what they wanted.
The International at Laurel ... yes ! I used to drive down from North Jersey to watch that one. I remember one year, 1973, I had a "sure-thing" going. There was an English horse entered named Scottish Rifle. His racing record was remarkably unimpressive except for one little quirk, he had never been beaten at 1-1/2m on the grass, the distance of the International at that time. Because his other races were dull, he was listed at 30-1 in the ML. It was a long ride down the NJ Turnpike, past Baltimore, near to Washington D.C., but I was sure it was worth it. At race time he was holding at 30-1. I hadn't traveled that far to bet $2 on him, I laid it on. He led from the start. Top of the stretch he led by 5 with only this little French filly chasing him. I was counting my winnings. At 3/16 she had cut the lead in half. At the 1/8th she was at his flank, at the 1/16 - at his throat-latch. The last 50 yds. she was head and head with him. A photo finish ... damn, damn, damn ... she beat him by a nose ! And, oh, by the way, the filly's name ? Dahlia. It was a long drive back to Jersey. Who ever said horseracing wasn't fun ? :)

thespaah
12-13-2008, 11:46 PM
For me it was the historic Fair Grounds. I used to ride my bike two blocks and peer through the chain link fence with my boyhood companions. We'd pick up old programs and bring them back home and pretend we were racehorses. We'd run down the street against each other. I was always "Santiago" which was a grey by Oil Capital that was my first fav horse. I'd read the Times Picayune in the mornings to watch for his name when he would run. This was in the late 50's.
I still have the program from my first visit to a racetrack. That place...Well take a look at my username... Stole that from Durkin. Aftr he gets thorugh with the announcemnts of changes and scratches......
Later that month I was there for the Hopeful Stakes. Affirmed won it and the first words out of my very green about horseracing yapper were "that horse is going to win the Kentucky Derby"...I am a regular visitor every summer to Saratoga. And as long as there is a Saratoga Race Course, I'll be there....

thespaah
12-13-2008, 11:49 PM
Hearing the voice of Fred Caposella calling the race of the week on TV. Also watching a weekly televised racing show sponsored by a local grocery chain that gave out entry forms listing a horse in each of five races (with increasing cash prize amounts), where if the horse on your entry form won the race, you'd win that amount. I believe the races were from Sunshine Park (now Tampa Bay Downs), with Jack Drees as the announcer.
That was called "Lets Go To the Races" And the races were filmed at Tropical Park....
Does this look familiar..Check the lower right corner of the ad...
http://newspapers.rawson.lib.mi.us/chronicle/CCC%201968%20(E)/Issues/02-22-1968_16.pdf

Zaf
12-14-2008, 01:10 AM
Aqueduct late 70's , remember John Henry being there as a claimer, I was in my teens, glory days :) ]

Z

Overlay
12-14-2008, 03:58 AM
That was called "Lets Go To the Races" And the races were filmed at Tropical Park....
Does this look familiar..Check the lower right corner of the ad...
http://newspapers.rawson.lib.mi.us/chronicle/CCC%201968%20(E)/Issues/02-22-1968_16.pdf

I grew up in Cincinnati. The local chain that I remember as sponsoring the show at the time was called Albers (the chain that gave out S&H Green Stamps with your groceries, as opposed to Kroger, which gave out Top Value stamps). (Mayber Albers later morphed/merged into IGA.)

ezrabrooks
12-14-2008, 09:01 AM
My first memories of TB racing were of the Triple Crown races on TV. Later trips to LAD...and I was hooked.

I was out in NV for the BC in November, and got to know a gentlemen sitting next to me. In passing, I asked him how long he had been following the races...he thought for a moment, then answered "I saw Swaps run".. No response from me..just a nod of respect.

Ez

thespaah
12-14-2008, 01:20 PM
Aqueduct late 70's , remember John Henry being there as a claimer, I was in my teens, glory days :) ]

Z
Speaking of obscure horses with mercurial rises to the top levels of racing.....Peat Moss. A reformed claimer who almost won the JCGC..

thespaah
12-14-2008, 01:22 PM
I don't remember- I wasn't a big follower of the Canadian game- the only driver I knew who spent much time in Canada then was Ron Waples (all the big Meadowlands drivers- O'Donnell, Campbell, Doherty- seemed to be Canadian, but they were generally based at the Big M). I just recall sitting outside on a beautiful night. It was still light- maybe the 2d or 3d race.
Yes, my home away from home...Spent many a night at The Big M.....

Fingal
12-14-2008, 01:22 PM
First time to any meet was when Grandparents took me to the old Harness Races at Santa Anita & sitting on that sloping apron. But at that age I was more interested in picking up those pretty colored papers that people were throwing on the ground.

First time for Thoroughbred was opening day @ Santa Anita in 1980, & the 9th race was a Cal Bred ALW won by Eleven Stiches. And there was this old guy down by the wire who was dancing, singing over & over....

" Eleven Stiches in my britches, Eleven Stiches in my britches........"

:cool:

Alyblakester
12-14-2008, 01:44 PM
I grew up in Cincinnati. The local chain that I remember as sponsoring the show at the time was called Albers (the chain that gave out S&H Green Stamps with your groceries, as opposed to Kroger, which gave out Top Value stamps). (Mayber Albers later morphed/merged into IGA.)

I remember "Let's Go To The Races" filmed in Fla. with Jack Drees as host. My parents used to shop at Winn-Dixie to get their game tickets.