Quote:
Originally Posted by thespaah
I have to ask..What does Colonial have to do with Laurel?
How is the existence of Colonial a detriment to Maryland racing?
Is it your contention that the State of Maryland has an exclusive on east coast racing south of Newark DE and north of Hallandale Beach , FL?
Look, if Laurel can't hang on to its best horses and trainers when a track nearly 250 miles to the south opens , how is that the problem of Colonial Downs?
BTW, a good percentage of the races at Colonial are carded for VA Breds. Also, Cnl. is the only track that has a dirt course that cards majority turf events.
I'm not here to argue. I'd prefer a discussion.
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It was a detriment to the horses and workers that were stabled at Laurel as well as Bowie and Pimlico and forced to ship and support racing 3 hours away on a good day, by van in August where you left at roughly 5 AM to get there in time for lasix treatment for the early races and typically got home between 7PM and 11PM that night. That groom worked 14- 18 hours that day. And had to be back by 6 AM the next morning.
If you chose not to run there with a stabled horse from Laurel, when the races came back, the constant threat of no stall space anymore for the horses that did not support it hung heavily over your head by management.
Yep. That's how management played.
Don't get me wrong, if you had a turf horse, the course was very nice. If you had a Va. Bred, the purses were GREAT with the added money. But all in all, August on a van going around the Washington Beltway both to and from was terrible. And if you hit an accident, you had to scratch because you missed the lasix deadline and then sit 10 hours waiting for the later horses to run before you could go home.
Racing in Va. would have been fine had it been not so far down the road. Literally the middle of nowhere.
Growing pains I guess but those that felt the most pain are forgotten now.
Doesn't seem fair in hindsight but things like this seldom are.
