Finger Lakes meet wraps up

[Boomer]

And what a meet it was.


What a great alternative to the conveyor belt line-up racing of NYRA,


When horses are only able to win on the lead they are all in from the start creating speed duals, exciting gate to wire racing and bad favorites.


Special Recognition


Jockeys....best colony ever at the Lakes


Luis Perez....What an amazing meet. Daring rider who always knows how to take advantage of the goes ft changing Lakes track bias. Top jock of the meet which almost always goes to John Davila


John Davila...If past history holds true, we will not see John until the spring when the Lakes reopens. Finger Lakes is all he needs as he makes plenty of money and stays healthy. Top jock for many many years


Raylu Guitteriez..Spent most of the summer at Saratoga and of course needed to stay there due to pandemic. Tough for the new gut to break in at the Soa but he sure learned lots from the NY colony as he returned to the Lakes improved. Great attitude, always smiling, SUNY Cortland grad and will be a great ambassador to the game wherever he rides.


Trainers
TheEngelhardt clan...Chris and Jeremiah already made it big nationwide. Watch out for Jeffrey who can work magic with the cheapest claimers. Also has a great career ahead of him.
Dan Conway...great year getting some NYRA stock and keeping them healthy and ultra consistent
James Acquilano...Wow,what he can do with a stable of cheap horses. Year in and year out


Racing Secretary for putting together big and competitive racing. Unlike previous seasons.


Track Announcer....Last but not least is the fantastic Tony Calo. In the tradition of Ross Morton, Finger Lakes get the announcers right. Exciting calls but a master at reading the flow of a race in progress and letting us know which horses we need to "recognize" amazingly early is a race. I just don't know how he does it. Tony and Peter at the Mountain are the best in the business.


Last day today. Look for analyses in the handicapping section. Until spring

[Robert Fischer]

Good meet.

Fun on a major track off-day, fun when a NYRA horse with some recognition turns up at Finger Lakes, and a pretty good product in general.

[Maximillion]

I only picked it back up in the last month or so......a mistake.
Almost every card was great and was much improved over prior seasons imo.

[BIGTKLO]

Originally Posted by Boomer

And what a meet it was.


What a great alternative to the conveyor belt line-up racing of NYRA,


When horses are only able to win on the lead they are all in from the start creating speed duals, exciting gate to wire racing and bad favorites.


Special Recognition


Jockeys....best colony ever at the Lakes


Luis Perez....What an amazing meet. Daring rider who always knows how to take advantage of the goes ft changing Lakes track bias. Top jock of the meet which almost always goes to John Davila


John Davila...If past history holds true, we will not see John until the spring when the Lakes reopens. Finger Lakes is all he needs as he makes plenty of money and stays healthy. Top jock for many many years


Raylu Guitteriez..Spent most of the summer at Saratoga and of course needed to stay there due to pandemic. Tough for the new gut to break in at the Soa but he sure learned lots from the NY colony as he returned to the Lakes improved. Great attitude, always smiling, SUNY Cortland grad and will be a great ambassador to the game wherever he rides.


Trainers
TheEngelhardt clan...Chris and Jeremiah already made it big nationwide. Watch out for Jeffrey who can work magic with the cheapest claimers. Also has a great career ahead of him.
Dan Conway...great year getting some NYRA stock and keeping them healthy and ultra consistent
James Acquilano...Wow,what he can do with a stable of cheap horses. Year in and year out


Racing Secretary for putting together big and competitive racing. Unlike previous seasons.


Track Announcer....Last but not least is the fantastic Tony Calo. In the tradition of Ross Morton, Finger Lakes get the announcers right. Exciting calls but a master at reading the flow of a race in progress and letting us know which horses we need to "recognize" amazingly early is a race. I just don't know how he does it. Tony and Peter at the Mountain are the best in the business.


Last day today. Look for analyses in the handicapping section. Until spring

Thank You so much for the kind words Boomer. FIRST CALL THAT'S ALL.

[Boomer]

Originally Posted by BIGTKLO

Thank You so much for the kind words Boomer. FIRST CALL THAT'S ALL.

And thank you for announcing me through 7 of 10 winners yesterday. See handicapping section.


Looking forward the the Spring. I went to school and resided in western NY through out the 70's and never missed an opening day.


Shows you how long I have been a degenerate horse player.


One of my favorite and long gone characters was the elderly man who sole racing forms right in front of the turnstiles. He would bark at anyone who walked past him without purchasing the Form "Hey, You can't go in there without the form"



Hope the covid clears up so I can make a trip there in 2021. I'll come and say hello if I make it up.

[BIGTKLO]

That would be awesome. Come to the booth and enjoy the view.

[MJC922]

Originally Posted by Boomer

And thank you for announcing me through 7 of 10 winners yesterday. See handicapping section.


Looking forward the the Spring. I went to school and resided in western NY through out the 70's and never missed an opening day.


Shows you how long I have been a degenerate horse player.


One of my favorite and long gone characters was the elderly man who sole racing forms right in front of the turnstiles. He would bark at anyone who walked past him without purchasing the Form "Hey, You can't go in there without the form"



Hope the covid clears up so I can make a trip there in 2021. I'll come and say hello if I make it up.

I always bought it from him on the way out, assuming I was leaving with something more than lint in my wallet. Otherwise it was a drive down to World Wide News downtown to grab the DRF there.

I still remember World Wide during the winter months, that chewed up concrete floor when you first walked in which was soaking wet from the salt and snow on everyone's boots, grabbed the DRF and drove home to handicap the AQU inner. Show up the next day at FL to buy a seat in the Paddock Room. The 80's winter months, I remember spending a day betting up at the paddock room with my dad and cousin. It was the AQU simulcast and Wesley Ward rode four or five winners on the card. Good times.

[Boomer]

Originally Posted by MJC922

I always bought it from him on the way out, assuming I was leaving with something more than lint in my wallet. Otherwise it was a drive down to World Wide News downtown to grab the DRF there.

I still remember World Wide during the winter months, that chewed up concrete floor when you first walked in which was soaking wet from the salt and snow on everyone's boots, grabbed the DRF and drove home to handicap the AQU inner. Show up the next day at FL to buy a seat in the Paddock Room. The 80's winter months, I remember spending a day betting up at the paddock room with my dad and cousin. It was the AQU simulcast and Wesley Ward rode four or five winners on the card. Good times.

Yep World Wide News on St Paul in Rochester. You could always count on getting the form there, and even a Batavia program.


Internet made life easier but I miss those days.

[aliancia]

I remember the mornings at World Wide when the Form was late arriving and everybody was milling around killing time waiting. The cashier guy would give periodic updates on how much time before the Form would be in, and everyone's mood improved as the time got shorter.

[MJC922]

80's in Rochester was a great time to be handicapping. The other newsstand was Village Green on Monroe ave. Sometimes World Wide didn't get their shipment of the DRF or was sold out and Village Green still had them. I'll always remember buying my copy of Winning at the Races (Quirin) at Village Green, it had a mylar dust jacket on it. Spent many an hour reading and re-reading that book over the years. Anyone remember the Sibley Tower by the liberty pole midtown when they actually had a book section on the ground floor? They had a bakery that sold the best moon cookies I've ever tasted too.

Also a short walk past the liberty pole was Rowe Photo, they had a nice selection of top quality binoculars. I remember buying my first good ones there - Nikon Egret rubber coated 8x40s, they weren't huge so I could lug them around all afternoon. For the better part of a decade I wore those out to Finger Lakes every day. Ross Morton if I recall used some very powerful binoculars to call the races. Not sure what mag those were.

[Boomer]

Great memories guys.


I was a salesman and would have Friday afternoon off and you know what that would mean. I had to get to Lakes in time for the Double.


One day the Form was late to WW News and my calls were going late. After the last call I was rushing to Finger Lakes and handicapping at the same time while still pretty far from Finger Lakes in Scottsville. Guess who ran off the road into one on those water run offs on the side of the road?


Needed to be towed out. No harm to drive or car. Only harm was I missed the Double!

[Tom]

That guy selling the Forms - he wore a checkered jacket and hat? Loooked like someone out of a 1940s movie?

I worked in Canandaigua at the Dairy Bar in the early 70s. He used to come in for breakfast before heading to the track. He was living in town somewhere. He went to Florida for the winter, at ""Florida Downs" - FL South in those days.

Guy was a real character. Had us all in stitches some days.

Remember Mel Logan, and his tip sheet?
Used to sell it on the ground floor. "FOUR winners, one on top!"

Then one year, the track made him stop so he set up a stand on the back road to the track. He even wrote two small booklets on handicapping Finger Lakes!

WW News still selling the Forms. I used to drive up there whenever local stores didn't get the Form delivered - a lot of times!

Paddock Room used to be the winter place to be.....Aqueduct Inner Dirt.

[BIGTKLO]

It must have been some great times. The crowds, the characters and just the overall good times being enjoyed by all. It makes me think of the old days back at Bay Meadows and Golden Gate Fields that I enjoyed with my father as a teenager. We had a guy selling a tip sheet named "HERMIT", and I'll never forget him bellowing out GET YOUR HERMIT, HERMIT, HERMIT. What a great voice he had, I remember the tone as if it was yesterday.

[BIGTKLO]

I wish somehow, which I know will never happen, we could have those days again at Finger Lakes, even if it's once in a blue moon.

[Boomer]

Originally Posted by Tom

That guy selling the Forms - he wore a checkered jacket and hat? Loooked like someone out of a 1940s movie?

I worked in Canandaigua at the Dairy Bar in the early 70s. He used to come in for breakfast before heading to the track. He was living in town somewhere. He went to Florida for the winter, at ""Florida Downs" - FL South in those days.

Guy was a real character. Had us all in stitches some days.

Remember Mel Logan, and his tip sheet?
Used to sell it on the ground floor. "FOUR winners, one on top!"

Then one year, the track made him stop so he set up a stand on the back road to the track. He even wrote two small booklets on handicapping Finger Lakes!

WW News still selling the Forms. I used to drive up there whenever local stores didn't get the Form delivered - a lot of times!

Paddock Room used to be the winter place to be.....Aqueduct Inner Dirt.

Yep that was him, and thanks for jogging my Mel Logan memory.


Finger Lakes would get so crowded they needed parking attendants to direct you to your spot. Got to know them as well.


After I left Rochester I would stay at the "Beautiful Trenholm East Inn" as Ross Morton would call it, whenever I needed my Finger Lakes fix.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/hollyw...ce/5654156480/