Silver & the rest of my fellow traditionalists,
The game that we knew, loved, were brought up with is gone; it ain\'t coming back ever again in the grand traditional fashion that we knew. Quite frankly it will be lucky to survive in a recognizable state. Decade\'s of self induced greed, short sighted thinking, non marketing and being a cash cow for the politicians have sucked it dry.
There is no one more than I who loved the Met Mile and yes it has been part of my Memorial Day since my teen years; attending several live as well as disrupting many a barbecue to watch the race. The obvious one for me was Conquistador Cielo and Woody pulling off the magical Met Mile/ Belmont Stakes double in the same week; my first bet at 23 yrs old that had 3 zero\'s in it and was on track for both. The next most memorable Memorial Day for my was my first year living in Chicago in 1984 at the old Arlington Park spending the day at the track in a monsoon with 40
degree temperatures thinking where have I moved to, where is the barbecue and the Met?
Give Santa, I mean Charles Kay credit for trying to create a big splash via the big event. If marketed correctly, supplemented by a concert, circus acts and a band of T-generates in a $500 buy in beer pong tourney it will draw some new blood to the track.
The 10 MILLION DOLLAR question is what will they find? Richiebee\'s plywood gate may be freshly painted and his friend Mafia maybe could give P-Dub chanting lessons on how to yell out \" Iron Mike Smith\" as he is sure to come into town to ride at such an event. The once pristine Belmont Park is in complete shambles and I\'m going back 5 or 6 years since I\'ve been there; I\'m told it\'s much worse.
Will the NEW NYRA have a handle on what to do with a large large crowd? Will the guest experience be enhanced by people urinating in trash cans as the rest room lines are a block long? Will anyone be able to get a hot dog or a beer without waiting in line for 20 minutes only to find out everything was gone by the 8Th race?
OK OK; enough doom and gloom. Let\'s just say Santa and his elf\'s slap on some fresh paint over the sea gull and pigeon droppings, brighten up the place, call out enough temps to handle betting windows, security, concessions,clean up and general maintenance and its a beautiful sunny 80 degree day and everything goes great; 100,000 come through the gates to see a potential Triple Crown!!!!
The back slapping, all smiles press conference after declares racing is back in NY; if you put out a great product in a big event atmosphere THEY WILL COME,
see what we can do.
Then next Saturday 3500 come to see NY Breed Slow Rats sprint 5 furlongs on the turf and Mafia can barely be heard chanting from the upper deck \" Why no curry goat today.\"
Clueless Kay and crew just don\'t get it. They will get their 15 minutes of fame and at 55 certainly not getting any younger, I\'ll continue to be one of the younger guy\'s playing this game.
Good luck,
Frank D.
