In The Sulky Forum
General Category => General Harness Racing Discussion => Topic started by: NIATROSS on August 17, 2013, 06:18:17 PM
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adws do have their advantges but watching the action from poconos brings back some great memories.
they may not have been the best horses in training but the sat nite racing at spk was worth the trip !
even the sat nite's in the winter at haw were thumbsup
despite being closer for me the balmoral races when changed to the mile just do not do it for me
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I have great memories of racing at Spk, and the thrill of being in that special winners circle at the racing home of some of the best horses in the world. I thought it couldn't get any better than that. Hal and I were waxing nostalgic about those days when we were at Spfld last Thursday.
We even got around to discussing what a sweet pair of individuals Phil & Doc were when we raced there. I noticed Doc's $20,000 hair plugs fell out... bless his heart. 8)
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Sportsmans ,in the 70s, on a Saturday night was the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grandstands were full. If you sat on the bench seats you had to have someone save your seat for you while you were betting.
As you walked into either the grandstand or clubhouse the blast of air conditioning was very welcome.As you approached the grandstand the Green sheet tout was hawking his picks. LOL Always had a great night last night.
You would look at the group of drivers watching the races from atop the paddock. The open air paddock was a great place to see all kinds of practical jokes. Busse, Banks,Hamilton, Magee(a lil later),Curran,O'Brien,Dennis,Plechers,were the stars.
I've got so many memories of SPK ............I really miss that place. I guess thats what happens to greedy people. 4pezz2
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Shaky Lou holding your horses head in the winners circle. Rosie standing just outside of the winners circle wearing one of her "hoochie" outfits.
The many grooms that were racetrack characters. Rabbit,Dirty Dick,Red cap,Bomber,Junior,Shaky, Josh, all had their stories.
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I shipped a horse in to race one night and he popped a quarter crack and was dead lame so I was going to scratch him. Somebody told me to get Dirty Dick to patch it, so I asked the guard shack to page him, but I didn't know his real name. The Spk PA announcer paged for "Dirty Dick" to go to my location. He patched the crack in no time and the horse won. I tipped him another $50 and he said, "That won't last long!" and headed for the tavern.
rflmao1
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Remember the blind guy selling pencils by the grandstand entrance? He made a ton! Had some great payouts there Remember Roman Empire paying over $100 . Had some pretty heated discussions with some of the drivers by the paddock! rflmao1
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No doubt about it, Sportsman's was the best.....but for some of us older gent's the memories go back a bit further.....mine began at the grand old lady on Halsted Street, Washington Park.....the brightly lit nightime sky, the tree lined Halsted Street, the back entrance off of Ashland, walking past the IC Train that parked right behind the grandstand extrance, the "Twin Touble", "Big Q", the new and unusual "Trifecta" on the final race, the huge crowds on Saturday nights and the "Spotlight" races in which the horses would post parade as the lights dimmed and each trotter or pacer would pass through the Spotlight near the finish line, the voice of Phil Georgeff, the clubhouse dining room with its dress code and if you didn't have a sport coat and tie they'd provide one, the rental binoculars, the massive wood grandstand that was dry and just waiting for a fire (!), the cyclone fence outside between the grandsand and clubhouse, paddock judge Frank Pennino, starter Bud Burns, the stands selling Green Sheets and Red Sheets among other handicapping 'tools,' 'Scott's Prime Rib' restaurant just to the north of the track, - yes it was all great stuff and great memories that led up to the appreciation for what Sportsman's Park was.
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Dale, it took me several years to atted another harness race after Washigton Park went up in flames. Saw my fiirst race there in1963 . Remember the Sulky Club reastaurant a bit South on Halsted? I often was at Washington Park 3-4 times a week during the 60's and early 70's
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from the stories i heard from friends i wish had had a chance to go to washington park.i did not attend any race until the mid 70's
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Dale, it took me several years to atted another harness race after Washigton Park went up in flames. Saw my fiirst race there in1963 . Remember the Sulky Club reastaurant a bit South on Halsted? I often was at Washington Park 3-4 times a week during the 60's and early 70's
Sure do remember the Sulky Club, Hal! South of the track on the west side of the street....actually was first introduced to Lobster Tail at the Sulky Club - another of the many restaurants that burned down! .......and yes, Niatross, being the sulky fan you are, you would have enjoyed it there.
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It seems that I remember a gigantic pic of Citation and I think Swaps also ,when you first entered the Washington park Grandstand. Am I right??
Also seem to remember Rambling Willie racing there in a maiden or Nw2 in a SS sulky.
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It seems that I remember a gigantic pic of Citation and I think Swaps also ,when you first entered the Washington park Grandstand. Am I right??
Also seem to remember Rambling Willie racing there in a maiden or Nw2 in a SS sulky.
Not sure I recall the Pic of Citation but it could have been.....Swaps and Nashua met in their famous match race in the mid-50's there and I recall vaguely something about that particularly since I was actually there in the crowd as a kid with my dad....
Rambling Willie - you are correct, Pope! Willie, with Jim Curran driving, did race at Washington Park in the early stages of his career!
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When Sportsmans put that car track in I knew it was over, I probably did not miss 10 nights at that track
from when I was 4 years old. Greed is a terrible thing, I thoroughly enjoyed my LBJ trip and my trips to
M1 for the pace but nothing compares to sportmans park. Does anyone recall the clock hamburger stand
that was near Washington park ? I was at the original Aurora Downs the last Saturday night they were
open and the very next day was the last Sunday for Washington Park. Ahhhh the memories :'(
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I didn't get around to actually racing in Chicago area until 1989, mostly due to being married to a woman who hated horse racing. 12 years and 2 kids into the marriage she said that I would never own another horse and be married to her. I chose door #1 and have been grateful for that deal ever since.
I never got to Washington Park or Aurora Downs before their closing, but did have the thrill of Sportsman. I absolutely loved racing there.
My brother once raced in a short harness meet at Arlington Park , but I never did. His assessment of the Arlington meet: "I went broke and had to borrow toll money to leave."
rflmao1 rflmao1 rflmao1 rflmao1
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That Arlington meet (1976) was brutally COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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That Arlington meet (1976) was brutally COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wasn't that the one and only time they raced harness at AP?
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That Arlington meet (1976) was brutally COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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That Arlington meet (1976) was brutally COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the winter of 1979 was brutal too. I quit Irvine at Balmoral and headed straight to Florida in early October-it was already snowing then.
That fall made me hate Chicago. 4pezz2
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Wasn't that the one and only time they raced harness at AP?
if that was the yr silk stockings raced there than that is when i got hooked on harness.
it was a sat night and i had $5 across on a horse named " win mike " and got back $210.
that was a long ride home in the dead of winter
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And the winter of 1979 was brutal too. I quit Irvine at Balmoral and headed straight to Florida in early October-it was already snowing then.
That fall made me hate Chicago. 4pezz2
WIMP! I remember being at Balmoral on a New Years Eve in the early 70s when it was 20 below zero!
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WIMP! I remember being at Balmoral on a New Years Eve in the early 70s when it was 20 below zero!
thumbsup thumbsup thumbsup
i forget what yr it was (bengals in super bowl ?)but -60 degree wind chills and 4 horse fields at hawthorne on a sat night rflmao1
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thumbsup thumbsup thumbsup
i forget what yr it was (bengals in super bowl ?)but -60 degree wind chills and 4 horse fields at hawthorne on a sat night rflmao1
I lived out on a farm in '77,'78,'79 and it was brutally cold all three of those years. -60 windchills were common and pipes that hadn't frozen in 100 years froze. One of those years set a record for the longest stretch of IL days where the temp never got above freezing.
It was very dry and when it would snow a tiny bit the howling wind would drift all the roads closed and the fields next to the roads would be bare dirt. I begged my late wife to move out to the southwest but that was a no-go.
I drove a pulling old stud named Mr Bozo one night at Blmpk and the announcer said the windchill was -38 at post time. He didn't pull that night because my hands hurt too bad. I put him on the gate and let him run off on his own... don't remember where he finished, but I was the first one back to the heated paddock!
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the trips to balmoral in the winter made for some interessting adventures down 394.
slipping and sliding hoping not to end up in the ditch on the side of the road.
weather so bad that w an 8:00 pm 1st post the 6th race was going off at 9:00.
the card was done by 10 and onto the sheets of ice we went !
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thumbsup thumbsup thumbsup
i forget what yr it was (bengals in super bowl ?)but -60 degree wind chills and 4 horse fields at hawthorne on a sat night rflmao1
I believe that was 1985 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_1985_Arctic_outbreak and not many
races had 4 horses, some just had 2 and I think wendys skipper raced that night for Hambo but of
course I could be wrong, I was there though it was the evening card of a double header. I bet a 2
horse race Boom Boom against Steve Spriggs, I took Spriggs and of course lost and went 0 for the
card. shootme hammerhead1 4pezz2
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if that was the yr silk stockings raced there than that is when i got hooked on harness.
it was a sat night and i had $5 across on a horse named " win mike " and got back $210.
that was a long ride home in the dead of winter
Yes she did race there that year, I had Taurus Bomber that meet 20 to win and he was like 50-60
to 1, and they had an Inquiry and I believe Jerry Graham also claimed a foul against him and after
about 25 minutes they let the results stand, I think I threw up about 10 times before the race was
official. rflmao1 rflmao1 rflmao1