Quote:
Originally Posted by BarchCapper
No - it wasn't 50K, and the comment after the attendance speaks somewhat to your point, but from a Russ Harris article in the Blood-Horse about 1986 Marlboro Cup day:
"Bettors in a crowd of 29,183, the largest of the meeting so far, had trouble deciding on a favorite."
I would hesitate to call 29K "tiny" - you could hide a lot of people in those cavernous stands and ample grounds!
More gleanings from the Harris article:
1986's Marlboro, which wound up with 7 entrants but scratched down to 5, didn't really feature any "big time" NY based horse that might have drawn more of a crowd. Turkoman was West Coast, Precisionist had shipped in for the Woodward and stayed on. One of the East Coast "big name" entrants, Ogygian - at that point 8-7-1-0 lifetime with 3 Gr Is - went in the $300K Pegasus at the Meadowlands the night before the Marlboro. (Santa Anita didn't deal with that kind of "local" competition for horses.  ) Lady's Secret wasn't going to run if Precisionist did (and she didn't). |
I made a mistake on the year. It was 1987. It was the one won by Java Gold. And there definitely were not 29,000 people there. The place was empty. And I think the next year they eliminated the race and lengthened the Woodward to 1 1/4 miles instead.
