Laurel Park
 

I went to Laurel park for the first time on Friday, it was a very nice, good sized facility, but it was just plain depressing.
The crowd was about what I expected, but no one there actually cared about watching the live races. It was just a bunch of people hunched in their carrels, watching the horses on the hundreds TVs, with no attention paid to the real live racing right outside the windows.
No visiting the paddock, no intent to enjoy the perks of actually being at live racing.
I went to Charles Town that night, and it was a slightly smaller crowd, and not as nice-but decent facility, but people actually paid attention to the live racing, looked at the horses in the paddock, got right on the rail to watch the horses thunder by. It was refreshing, and much more enjoyable.

When everyone at Laurel is complaining about how there is no more live racing, what am I gonna say? Use it or lose it, right?

years ago there were people stacked up for a look at the horses in the paddock, looking to see how they were behaving, how they carried their heads and trying to figure out the demeanor of the horse. today the serious horse players are at home behind computer screens. the few that go to the track on a wednesday afternoon are there to socialize with others or they have nowhere else to go.

I think you are missing my point. The small crowd was not the issue. The issue was that no one there was socializing. No smiles. Just sitting behind a computer or form, intently watching the races 500+ miles away while ignoring the racing right out front. At Charles Town a lady asked to look at my program to see who to bet, and she was just having a good time, betting names. None of that at Laurel

Just because they are watching races from 500 miles away doesn't mean they are ignoring (not betting) the races at Laurel. My experience from before the days of simulcasting is a lot of the crowd watched the live races indoors on the monitors. My experience in the time of simulcasting is a lot of the crowd in the on track simulcasting center are still betting the local product.

Scott Lake/ Rich Malouf had $14.80 msw winner recently who was 1280? lbs, in the paddock.

Most small horses around 950 and bigger around 1050

That winner (:1a: Bet The Line) was big everywhere, big hooves etc...

I looked around at all the tickets tossed to the ground, very few of them were bets on Laurel.

According to this 35 Mil was bet on simulcasts on track and 7 Mill on the live Laurel product
If I’m reading it correctly

The paddock at Laurel is almost on the clubhouse turn. It's quite a trek to go down there between races and then back to the grandstand.

Whenever I'm at Laurel I always go to the paddock to watch the horses saddle. I like Laurel, but the crowds are always bigger at Pimlico and even Timonium. The majority of the farms and racing fans are in northern Baltimore County and Harford County. All of the big steeplechase races are in Baltimore and Harford county. Most of the people who enjoy a day at the track are closer to Pimlico and Timonium. There are many farms with dressage and show jumpers filled with off track thoroughbreds in those areas. My lady friend and her daughter have 3 jumpers. Their favorite time at the track is Black Eyed Susan Day. If given the chance they would go to the track more often if Pimlico has more dates. Everyone thinks Laurel would be a better draw because it's between Baltimore and DC. Only problem is most of the people drawn to racing are on the other side of Baltimore. The trip to Pimlico is 15 minutes to 1/2 hours. The drive to Laurel is an hour to an hour and half.

For example Alfred Vanderbilt's former Sagamore Farm where Native Dancer lived and died is 15 minutes from Pimlico. That area is still where all the high dollar farms are located.

This is not a new thing. I haven't been to Parx in 15 years and it was like that then. Unless you're at one of the few tracks that still has a lot of casual fans attending live, the hardcores are watching a bunch of different tracks. It's just the way it is.

Maybe it’s just me. But Charles town was very different

Maybe I’ll be able to get to Timonium this September

How many tracks, other than Charles Town, are running thoroughbreds in that time slot this time of year?


-jp
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Mountaineer WVA has night racing to itself. Penn National in Pennsylvania has night racing too.