Quote:
Originally Posted by Inner Dirt
Was it Joe Alto (sorry if I misspelled) who called Los Alamitos harness? I think he commonly used "down the lane they come" "rocking chair drive" and "booted home". That was a time where I was doing very well betting the pacers and trotters. Great memories!
Another wonderful memory at Los Al Harness was a fellow railbird shouting insults at Gerald Longo after he did what he did best, staying on the rail too long and getting boxed in down the stretch with a horse that was still "full of pace." Longo was walking down the stretch back to the barn while this guy was shouting "Longo you are a !@@##! piece of garbage" over and over again. All of a sudden Longo walks over to the rail and comes up to this guy standing right next to me, and invites him to come on his side of the fence and say that to his face. I cupped my hands together as an offer to help the guy over the fence, he put his tail between his legs and walked away.
So many priceless memories from attending live racing.
I have read that even as he got old he still got in fights, no idea if true. Wrong guy to talk shit to unless you are ready to rumble. After that he became the Garbage Man to me.  |
Joe Alto called both Los Al Harness and was the long time voice of Cal Expo. You'd never find a nicer man.
He had many "catch" phrases. The ones you listed and another I flat out plagiarized and used hundreds of time. " you better take a look at...."
I also stole another call from an industry stalwart Todd Schrupp.
He's the one who first coined the phase "whacker" for super close photo finishes. Stolen!
