Big news came out of New Jersey earlier today when the governor’s office put out an advisory that Governor Chris Christie will make an announcement on Wednesday pertaining to the entertainment industry in New Jersey, which includes the Meadowlands Racetrack
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A story in The Star-Ledger indicated Christie will discuss a complete government takeover of the Atlantic City Casino and visitors district. The Meadowlands Racetrack, however, is expected to be a sell-off or simply shut down after losing nearly $10 million last year.
Reports indicate that the state could offer the Meadowlands Racetrack to the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association for $1 a year, or simply eliminate racing there and turn the facility into an off-track wagering hall. A project to build another OTW facility in Bayonne would be delayed, pending a final decision on the Meadowlands.
It sure would add to WEG's
It sure would add to WEG's driving colony I'm sure.
No mistake, harness racing
No mistake, harness racing would go through a lot of pain if the Meadowlands closed, but I don't believe it will be as dire as some people think. In fact, there could be some good coming from this. Racing hass needed to make changes for years which it has refused to make. Now with the Meadowlands apparently going away, the industry may have no choice but to make the hard choices. It won't be pretty but it needs to be done.
Governments, like that of
Governments, like that of New Jersey, are starting to wonder and question why they should be supporting a sport/industry that takes place in front of empty grandstands.
You could date the start of
You could date the start of modern racing to the day Meadowlands opened in the mid seventies. The Cathedral Of Our Pacers And Trotters In The Swamps Of North Jersey brought changes to our sport. A huge sparkling edifice that drew big crowds and big handles. Large purses and mile racing in a style best descried as rock um sock um robots. Widely aggressive driving that left not one step of the mile uncontested. Snooze for a few seconds and you go from first to sixth buried deeper than the old labor leader Jimmy Hoffa under the football stadium across the parking lot. It ended the era of trainers driving their own horses and solidified the advance of the superstar catch drivers who though their rides were Doge Superchargers and all you had to do was put the pedal to the medal for something less than two minutes. If the gas tank didn't run dry then great, if the fuel didn't last the whole mile then no problem, there is another race in 17 minutes. The sport had little competition for the public's betting dollars predating lotteries and slot machines and IRA's and all the other ways people can put their money at risk.
In the mid seventies the world war two generation were reaching middle age. They had money and they loved to gamble. Hell they gambled with their lives in the big winner take all match race between democracy and totalitarianism. They loved to play cards and and they loved horse racing. They worked hard during the day in good paying manufacturing jobs. They had small businesses that they pushed as hard as their drill sergeants had pushed them years before. And at night they went to the brightly lit palaces of horsedom and shoved more money through the betting windows than you could shake a stick at. And many even got into the business buying a horse and then maybe another. That's how my dad started about 300 horses ago. Harness racing was always the sport of the people whereas Thoroughbreds were the sport of kings. I can remember sitting in the stands if you were lucky enough to get a seat at Liberty Bell and Brandywine where 15,000 was the norm on Friday and Saturday nights. It was the golden age of harness racing.
Times have changed. Meadowlands was built atop a dump, now it has turned into a dump. I have been a home builder all my life. No matter how well I build your house if after 35 years you have done nothing to maintain it then it just isn't going to look like the day you moved in. There has been little maintenance to Meadowlands over the years and it shows. There has been little maintenance to our sport over the last thirty five years and sadly it shows. There are still a few good days at Meadowlands each year. Nothing beats standing in a crowd of 30,000 fans as they scream themselves silly. The Somebeachsomewhere/ Art Official and the Mister Big/ Artistic Fella slugfests where entertainment at the highest level. They were exciting races if you watched them on cable or the internet. But it was a truly thrilling experience if you were there in the crowd. The Meadowlands Pace night and Hambletonian day are still great times to see racing at Meadowlands. But most Saturday nights you would cry if you knew what it used to be. A few lonely people with nothing else to do betting a few dollars on $ 10,000 claimers. The big sign that used to be in front of the track, "Welcome To The World Capital Of Harness Racing" was put on a truck and shipped 90 miles south down the New Jersey turnpike to Chester, The Palace Of Slots On the Delaware River. Great slot infused purses, good racing and empty stands. That's our sport today. There were only 14,000 souls at the track the other night for the Meadowlands Pace. That's a shame because it was a very entertaining race.
Do you want to buy a race track for a dollar ? When the new governor came in a few months ago there was hope that he was not bought off by Atlantic City and would put slots in the Big M making it the most crowed racetrack in the world and again put New Jersey at the pinnacle of harness racing. No such luck. Do you want to buy a racetrack for a dollar when the track could not do it with a subsidy from the state ? If the Standardbred Owners Association runs the track they will soon go broke and if they don't harness racing is dead in New Jersey. That is surely being between a rock and a hard place.
If the big m were to close
If the big m were to close it would be the beginning of the end for harness racing. The downward spiral that the game is on would quickly accelerate. Although i myself have not bet a race in over a year the big m is the one track that keeps the few big harness players who are left interested. This would be a blow that the industry would never recover from. County fair racing here we come.