SC Rewind: When Crowds Were Huge

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Published: April 23, 2011 08:05 am EDT

This week's Rewind is mainly pictorial in nature as the subject of attendance at harness racing in years gone by is the topic of conversation captured by a number of remarkable photos

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In the earlier days of racing it seems that having people show up to watch a day or an evening of racing was never a great concern. Obviously some racing centres were better at drawing crowds than others, but in general it was always a given that if a good card of racing was presented there would be lots of people there to watch. Unfortunately, slowly but surely, those days once taken for granted have ebbed away.

The modern day record for attendance at a live harness racing event was set in 1960 at Roosevelt Raceway in Long Island New York when 54,861 people showed up to watch that year's International Trot. For many decades it was common practice to publish daily attendance figures along with the mutuel handle. That stopped quite some time ago other than in rare instances.

Reportedly at one time a new track was proposed for construction in the area of the intersection of Highways 401 and 402 on the outskirts of London. It was believed to be the answer to the continuing problem of patrons being tied up while exiting from The Western Fair Raceway. I am told that this proposal involved a number of people influential in the sport at that time and progressed to the point of having detailed blueprints and conceptual drawings of the proposed facility. It obviously never took place, or at least not yet.

I can clearly recall the day when attending live racing was a "big deal" and caused a lot of excitement as people hurried to arrive on time, buy a program, get a good seat (and try to hang on to it) and for sure the first order of business was to bet the Daily Double. There were times when one person from a group went earlier than the rest and "put dibs" on a row of seats with a blanket or a newspaper to insure seating for all. A few months ago I was in attendance at what is now known as "live" racing and there were so few people there and it was so still and lifeless that a fellow not far from me said "I feel like I'm in church, it's so quiet in here."

The reason why crowds have diminished has now become the proverbial $64 Question.

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