I was there up in Pegasus, followed Sonsam from Brandywine, I Loved that he had the 10 post, kept odds much better. I still can see and hear all the people, magnificent, the roar & cheering! We all gotta get back there some how, slate clean, Let's Go!! Really Miss Harness Racing and Everything Else in Sports/Life, God Bless You All Out There!!
Loved this time period in general and of course for racing both harness and flat.Very exciting time for harness racing great horses Sonsam,Niatross etc,
Sonsam was absolutely a killer this night!! I usually don't compare standardbred's to thoroughbred's, but every time I see that move Sonsam made after being forced out 3 wide from the 1/2 to the 3/4, it just reminds me of the move the great Secretariat made as a 2 year old in the Hopeful at Saratoga. You just don't see moves like that or this, not against this caliber of competition. And the beauty of it, I KNOW I was there. Never missed a big race, and usually was there every Thursday through Saturday from opening night through about 1993. I know the times have changed, but after going to the track a couple times since the new grandstand was put up, I want to cry when I look over at the old grandstand. I really wish I could watch the races from that side of the track again.....I don't care if I'm not looking at the finish line.....that was my home away from home, and from year to year, my friends and I would stand at different places, outside or inside, usually going outside to watch the races though, from the clubhouse to the grandstand, from the finish line all the way up to the paddock.....I think I could have walked around that track in the dark the way I walk around my own home in the dark!!!!
I also referred to the Big M as "my home away from home". I was a program collector. I had so many when I moved away from NJ, I had to discard a lot of them. I kept all the important ones, Great races, etc....I averaged about 60 visits per meeting. Back then, an average Saturday night crowd was around 20,000 to as many as 25, 000. The good old days
I could name that tune in 1 note!! Every harness fan knew that music in the beginning......we had seen the earlier stuff on channel 9 showing a couple races from Roosevelt or Yonkers a few years earlier, but this was the best!!! What a move by Sonsam!!!! Herve gave Hot Hitter a perfect drive, brushing to the top on a slow quarter....was just 2nd best this night.
Casino's killed this great sport....I saw it coming and told everybody who would listen to vote NO on casinos if they loved their harness and horse racing in NJ......sad. Now the only way to save the sport is to add slots.
More like the internet did that plus cable tv and OTB made it something worth seeing, but not worth going to see. Sport isn't even close to dead yet, it's just not at its peak.
Nah...Casino gambling was legalized two years before the Meadowlands opened. I think the people changed. Younger people found other things to do. Yes, the era of casino gaming in AC began in 1978. Crowds remained robust through the 80's. The downward trend in on track attendance began in the early 90's . By the end of the 90's Saturday night crowds were less than 10,000. With other outlets available handle continued to increase. Also many tracks closed. That started in the mid to late 80's. THe list is almost saddening,. Roosevelt, Brandywine, Foxboro, Liberty Bell, Freestate, the entire Chicago harness circuit disappeared. Up in Quebec, Blue Bonnets..Many others. It is a shame . I also blame poor marketing strategies and this obsession with extended meetings. States wanted tracks to be operating as many dates as possible because the tracks were cash cows for state coffers, These 140 to 170 program meets also helped kill the sport.
I've watched this a dozen times, and wish they had the Racing From The Meadowlands shows for every week and every big race night online, but every time I watch it, I cringe when Pat Brown brings up that Ray Brienza borrowed $20 from him......they might be great friends, and I'm sure Ted Brown was a class act and it means nothing in private, but to put that out on the air just strikes me as low class. I would be surprised if after seeing this, he didn't wish he hadn't said it. Maybe I'm making too much of it, because borrowing has always been part of the game of gambling....that's what's great about going to the track with 3 or 4 others.....as long as one person hits, everyone still has fire power.
Once I went to Belmont with a friend and a friend of his who had taken $300 from his mom to bet....I arrived with $2.00 and left with $117.00 from six races. Making speed figures in 1986 was fun.
