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[levinmpa]

The Good ole days

I know time moves forward and everything evolves and changes, but I really miss the game I fell in love with as a teenager and into my early 20's. This was early 80's into 90's. Some of the things I miss the most about the game at that time:

Large Fields. I remember when Belmont would have 150 or more horses entered on a 10 race card almost every day, even though some were obviously "also eligibles"

6 Day Race weeks year round in New York, 5 Day Race Weeks year round in California

New Jersey in the Summer had Monmouth Park running 5 afternoon days and Atlantic City ran in the evenings.

Northern California Fair meets had the same rotation every summer. Stockton, Pleasanton, Vallejo(Solano), Santa Rosa, Bay Meadows Fair, Sacramento. Each fair ran for 13 consecutive days and 13 races per card.

Hialeah Park ran the prime winter dates of January - March

Southern California had Shoemaker, Pincay Jr, McCarron, Delahoussaye, Hawley, Stevens, Valenzuela, Toro

New York had Cordero, Vasquez, Velasquez, Maple, Migliore, Smith, Bailey, Krone, Antley, Davis, Romero, Peret

Tom Durkin, Marshal Cassidy, Phil Georgeff, Ross Morton, Todd Creed, Dave Johnson

The full size Eastern Edition of the DRF was the size of a regular newspaper, not a tabloid

Affirmed and Alydar, Precisionist and Greinton, Sunday Silence and Easy Goer.

Longacres, Bay Meadows, Hollywood Park, Garden State Park, Atlantic City

Yes, things have changed, some for the better, some not. We have speed figures, ADW's, and a wealth of information available to us on our computers and smartphones whenever we want to access it. We also have 4 day or less race weeks with 8 race cards, short fields, few rivalries, "super" trainers, high takeouts, and we're now a "fringe" sport. I do miss the good ole days.