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Finger Lakes
Hello. I’m 18 years old & live in Buffalo, NY. Thoroughbred racing around here is pretty limited, with fort Erie and finger lakes being the only tracks within an hour drive. My father and grandfather both grew up betting and loving Finger Lakes as a whole. I think that the track is very symbolic of the racing industry as a whole, very decrepit, run-down and a shadow of its former self. However, I certainly see what the track once was & how nice it would’ve been at one time.
My father and grandfather often talk of times where there were 10 horse fields, 11 races on a card, races at different distances (3 miles even!) and the like. While I think Finger Lakes will never close because it is a necessary evil for NYRA rejects, I also think it will never be what it once was; at the very least shitty racing but a lot of it.
With that being said, I was wondering if people have any stories about Finger Lakes. Being so young I realize the sport was popular on a wide-spread scale mostly before I was born and I am curious to hear people’s experiences, stories and accounts of Finger Lakes, whether in person or playing it through simulcast.
For me, it was wandering around the grandstands collecting losing tickets while hearing the old announcer Ross yell “FROM DOWNTOWN CANANDAIGUA” as a horse closed on the field and my dad either jumped for joy or dropped an f bomb. I’m committed to Finger Lakes now through growing up there on the weekends...might as well be positive and make the most of it until April when I lose all my money on five horse fields!
So drop a comment on your Finger Lakes experiences..please don’t post.any comment mentioning the Englehart family though, I’ve heard about and been screwed over by them enough at this point lol.
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