Mountaineer Facility?????

[ENT222]

Ok I enjoy going to different tracks just as the next guy. I always liked Friday night racing which started at Rockingham when I was a kid. Anyways I have a planned a trip to the Mountain and was wondering if anyone has been there and what your take was. I see its literally in the middle of no where.

[BillW]

Ok I enjoy going to different tracks just as the next guy. I always liked Friday night racing which started at Rockingham when I was a kid. Anyways I have a planned a trip to the Mountain and was wondering if anyone has been there and what your take was. I see its literally in the middle of no where.

There's no mountain there either! Look up Buddha, he lives there.

[DeanT]

If you can get across the bridge, be happy :)

I had a good time at the Mountain. The hotel was first class and you do feel you are in the middle of nowhere. Grab a beer, get the shuttle to the track (it's only a few minute walk, but hey you are on vacation!) and have a good time. I did.

[highnote]

I highly recommend it. Although, I'd go in the summer. The track sits on the banks of the Ohio River. The old bridge is pretty rickety, but there is another one that is newer. The old one is closer. Buy a round trip ticket. It's something like 25 or 50 cents each way. But when you buy a round trip, they give you 2 round trips for the price of one way. Go figure?

You can play poker there, too. I think they now have blackjack.

I've never been to the spa, but it might be worth it.

The food is so so, but it's hard to find a decent meal west of NYC.

When I was there last, people were still smoking in the casino and the smell of the smoke drifted upstairs into my room. Hopefully, they've banned smoking indoors.

[ENT222]

sounds good and cant wait, thanks for the input

[jballscalls]

Mountaineer is lots of fun!! always enjoyed myself going there. The hotel is great and if i remember correctly, they have RTN in the hotel rooms!!

[Chris Longshot]

Ok I enjoy going to different tracks just as the next guy. I always liked Friday night racing which started at Rockingham when I was a kid. Anyways I have a planned a trip to the Mountain and was wondering if anyone has been there and what your take was. I see its literally in the middle of no where.


love the mountain, though I'm biased. Go a few times a year, in the summer, its a much better experience, especially on weekends, more people go, over at the track, its fee admission, $1.50 program, inside newly put up plasmas, few rows of carrells, poker tables inside, big outside deck, food smoking on the grill, I recommend the chicken tenders or the steak hogie ;) , beers are bottled or on tap, beautiful scenery, cordial tellers inside, outside paddock area is okay, not a lot of room, the inside paddock smells, not all that great but more room to view, I would recommend waking up early one day and walk from your hotel, assuming your staying at the lodge, down to the track, you can sit on the grass and watch them work the horses, can actually see the track pretty clearly from the balcony from your hotel room, rooms are nice, inside pool is pretty big, spa is very nice, recommend a massage but its pricey, over at the hotels, food is pretty cheap, have a few buffets, good sports bar, very good wings there, very accessible, easy to get around, wv lotto section, there are slots, tables, blackjack, roulette, craps, not tons but a few, not sure of anything else, free bus takes you to the track from the hotel but also close enough for a good walk back if you desire. Waitresses are very good at the hotel in the simulcast area, brings drinks consisently, not as good at the track though, mainly focus on the poker players there, Big Al's deli near the simulcast area is recommended especially at night, its open till two I think, if your a high roller, Le Bon Vie, good steakhouse, piano bar, tv's for racing are better at the track, small plasmas, ones at the hotel are small, Usually have live entertainment there on most night, concerts are at the Harv. You will be pleasantly suprised for a smaller circuit track, its pretty well run, however on Mondays and Tuesday nights, mostly a ghost town at the track, very few venture. Have fun, lets us know what you think after your trip.

[Chris Longshot]

If you can get across the bridge, be happy :)

I had a good time at the Mountain. The hotel was first class and you do feel you are in the middle of nowhere. Grab a beer, get the shuttle to the track (it's only a few minute walk, but hey you are on vacation!) and have a good time. I did.

very true got lost in East Liverpool and had to go on that bridge, my car barely fit, was creaky, sounded like it was going to collapse, if you choose Route 2, at night road is curvy, lots of road kill and dark, no street lights, looks like the beginning of a horror movie, recommend staying on the casino grounds, especially at night lol. :)

[whyhorseofcourse]

Sign up for the players card and get a bunch of coupons.
If you spend the night you will get a lot more coupons as well.
First class environment. Its a nice change of pace for the local tracks I attend.

[Nmytwenties]

That bridge is sounding like it is worthy of being condemned...lol....Is it really that bad, sounds like it is something state inspectors should look at.

[Thomas Roulston]

Mountaineer Park (formerly Waterford Park) is one of the few tracks with a 7-furlong turf course (inside a one-mile main track) that actually has the audacity to run 7-furlong races on the turf (Fort Erie is the only other track that comes readily to mind that does this, although once in a great while such a race gets carded at Turf Paradise).

My favorite story along these lines concerns the old Hawthorne Park turf course, which (prior to 1987) was six furlongs inside a one-mile main oval. My question is, instead of moving the far turn on the turf course to its present location, why didn't they install the new turn without dismantling the old one, thereby increasing the number of available distances on turf? (The Fair Grounds could also do something like this).

[judd]

i go all the time in the summer-nice hotel nice casino--wife plays slots which keeps her occipied and i sit at horse race book (all tracks including dogs) then
at night we take free shuttle over to track(3 min and your there) wife plays slots again while i play the ponies
its about 1hr 15 min from downtown pittsburgh--i also used to go when it was waterford park

[mountainman]

That bridge is sounding like it is worthy of being condemned...lol....Is it really that bad, sounds like it is something state inspectors should look at.

I cross that span several times a month and always dread getting stuck at the south-end redlight. The bridge bounces like a trampoline, and you're suspended over railroad tracks. I once crossed it on the rickety wooden- walkway and would swim next time if faced with the choice.

[affirmedny]

Mountaineer Park (formerly Waterford Park) is one of the few tracks with a 7-furlong turf course (inside a one-mile main track) that actually has the audacity to run 7-furlong races on the turf (Fort Erie is the only other track that comes readily to mind that does this, although once in a great while such a race gets carded at Turf Paradise).

My favorite story along these lines concerns the old Hawthorne Park turf course, which (prior to 1987) was six furlongs inside a one-mile main oval. My question is, instead of moving the far turn on the turf course to its present location, why didn't they install the new turn without dismantling the old one, thereby increasing the number of available distances on turf? (The Fair Grounds could also do something like this).

Beulah used to have a FIVE furlong turf course inside the one mile main track. It was very chaotic (and dangerous) on the the first turn.

[ldiatone]

ok if you are coming in from the pittsburgh airport, one can come down RT 18. merge w/ rt30 and come to WVa through "hilltop" Chester WVa. go left by the big "teapot" and just stay on rt 2. you will not have to cross the toll bridge. if you leave the Pittsburgh airport and head north one can also cross the "vanport bridge" and head to Industry Pa which leads to the border city of Midland, then east liverpool(have a girlfriend there, maybe i'll tell you all of my encounter w/the motorcycle gang "glaidiators" there in the '70s) and cross the New bridge and follow Rt 2 to mountaineer.(you'll miss the tea pot in chester). also the meadows race track and casino is about 45 mins. from the mountain and wheeling downs also is another 30mins south of MNR.
both MNR and downs have table games. the city of pittsburgh will have slots in july i think
ldiatone

[Nmytwenties]

You can still see the outline of the old turf course at Beulah, at least you could up until about 2 years ago when I visited there last, I would doubt they have put the effort forth and went to the expense to remove the hedges. I don't think they have run on the turf there since the early nineties,kinda pathetic that the half of the hedges still stand. Typical nickel and dime stuff from Ohio track owners.

The track records for the turf course are still published in some racing forms as I recall. Not sure when they were able to get much turf racing in during the inclement months they run.

[Cangamble]

There's no mountain there either!
There is no turf at Turfway either.

[Thomas Roulston]

If I'm not mistaken, the circumference of the Beulah Park turf course was officially expressed as "223 feet less than 6 furlongs" - and judging by the aerial view I've seen of it someplace, the turns actually weren't tighter than a typical 7-furlong turf course inside a mile dirt track; instead, the stretches were a lot shorter (don't ask me why they did that).

On the old Hawthorne turf course, 7 furlongs (it was 844 feet from the start to the first turn) was a fairly popular distance, if the track records were any guide (strangely, however, they never ran 7 1/2 furlongs on the old turf course, and there was a chute extended to the main-track quarter pole from which one-mile turf races were run).

But now that NYRA has bitten the bullet on turf sprints at both Belmont and Saratoga, I can't understand why they don't run them at Aqueduct as well (if they can't bring themselves to carding 5-furlong turf races, they could install a Monmouth/Hollywood-style chute and run them at 5 1/2 furlongs). And why neither Aqueduct, nor Monmouth Park, nor the Meadowlands have ever run any 7 1/2-furlong turf races is beyond me (just about every other similarly-configured track does run them - including the Fair Grounds, where it is a shorter distance to a tighter first turn than would be the case at any of those three tracks).

And Finger Lakes needs a turf course too (for the cheaper NYRA claimers to run on).

[1GCFAN]

Live in BEU land. The former Turf course was listed about6F in the PP. I remember when the main track was froze they switched the races to the frozen turf.

Two summers ago Mrs. Fan and i ventured to MTN for the first time in about 25 years. I handed them $$ and they handed me worthless pieces of paper. Stayed at Pittsburgh hotel (airport area).

Made a few trips there when it was the old Waterford Park. Also attended TBred races at Wheeling Downs in the late 60's. Anybody remember that track?