A Pretty Sad Comparison.

[Danville]

Both Keeneland and Thunder Ridge Raceway were in operation this past Friday and Saturday.
Comparing anything to Keeneland if ridiculous but the status of harness racing in Kentucky has never been this dismal.
Friday @ Keeneland                           @ TRR
10 race card                                   4 race card                       
$1,777,629 on track handle           $63 total  WPS only
$7, 054, 818 interstate handle      No figures given
19,730 on track attendance          No figures given
$659K purse money                      $3.4K total purse money
89 starters                                     22 starters

Saturday @ Keeneland                     @TRR
12 race card                                  5 race card
$2,968,451 on track handle          $78 total WPS only
$17,587, 122interstate handle      No figures
40,617 on track attendance          No figures
$1,668,000 purse money              $4.6K total purse money
117 starters                                   30 starters

All in all---pretty damned grim outlook for harness racing in KY.

[Wilderness]

Harness racing within Kentucky has never paralleled T-Bred racing there, however comparing Thunder Ridge to Keenleand might be like comparing pigs feet to prime rib.
 Why not compare Monticello to Yonkers or Roosevelt-in-prime?

Except for a few KYSS stakes the early meet at Lexington isn't much better than Thunder Ridge, and that early Lexington meet has been that Appalachia-poor for many decades.

In the old days Latonia or Henderson/Audubon wasn't much better than Thunder Ridge.

[LVGaryD]

Thunder Ridge has indeed gone downhill lately. I am friends with some guys who train and race down there, and they say it is going downhill fast.

 

[Wilderness]

Thunder Ridge has indeed gone downhill lately.

 Gary,
          I don't deny that, however comparing TRR to Keeneland is a infinite-stretch of anybody's imagination.

[LVGaryD]

Gary,
          I don't deny that, however comparing TRR to Keeneland is a infinite-stretch of anybody's imagination.

Danville said it was a sad comparison. 

[Danville]

Harness racing within Kentucky has never paralleled T-Bred racing there, however comparing Thunder Ridge to Keenleand might be like comparing pigs feet to prime rib.
[b]Harness racing, when it had a foothold in Louisville (Louisville Downs) was a respectable comparison, not in handle or attendance but in popularity. The breeders, such as Castleton and Almahurst farms along with the smaller spreads (Hallview comes to mind) were viable, successful ventures by any standard. Harness racing had a presence that is pretty much gone today but so are the farms.[/b]

Why not compare Monticello to Yonkers or Roosevelt-in-prime?
I know nothing of Monticello or Roosevelt nor do I care to learn

Except for a few KYSS stakes the early meet at Lexington isn't much better than Thunder Ridge, and that early Lexington meet has been that Appalachia-poor for many decades.

The Red Mile no longer has an "early meet". They begin the fall meet in August and it carries through to the end of the GC. Your argument has no substance but to consider the facts today you are probably right although I'm acquainted with more than one horseman who might argue the point with more fervor than would I.
In the old days Latonia or Henderson/Audubon wasn't much better than Thunder Ridge.

In the "old days" Latonia was much better than is Thunder Ridge today. Hell it was better than Aurora Downs or Maywood Park once.
When Maywood was racing for $600 , in the 1950's, Latonia was going for $800-$1000 for comparable classes.

[LVGaryD]

When I worked for Irvine Jr. in the 1970s, we raced several times at Latonia. The purses there were very good at that time, when Pete Rose was making his nightly or at least often deposits into the wagering pool.

As far as Louisville, that was one of my all time favorite tracks to race at. If memory serves me correctly, I at my first White Castle burgers in Louisville too, back around 1975 or 1976.

As I have said many times, Louisville folks are among the nicest people I've ever met. I had a horse of Donnie's down there in 1979 or 1980 (I think) that actually won the Kentucky Pacing Derby one week before the Fox Stake at Indiana State Fair. Can never remember the horse's name, but he was a son of Crash I believe. Will have to call Irvine on this one-he is a walking encyclopedia on the old days.

At any rate, I was interviewed on local Louisville television about the colt. That evening shortly after the news I walked into the track kitchen. People were coming up to me shaking my hand, calling me Mr. Schmidt. I was like, "Huh? What happened here? What is the punch line?" Then someone said they had all seen my tv interview-suddenly I was a star.

[Wilderness]

100+miles from any major city (Lexington, Charleston or Roanoke), and alienated to two sets (almost enclosed on three sides by mountains except for the opening near Knoxville) of mountains.
The demographics for TRR must be quite dismal. I'd sure like to see one of those surrounding area population draws. That entire area in the early years was coal miners and dirt poor farmers. My grandfather (and other relatives) worked the coal mines in that area.

from May 1982 Hoof Beats
Saginaw is in the hotbed of un

[Wilderness]

FWIW, there were two former tracks in Kentucky.
One was named Kentucky Raceway and was in close proximity to Latonia (initially I assumed it was the same facility).
 The other was named Fairgrounds Speedway (later Miles Park) and was on the west side of Louisville close to the river. Initially I had assumed Fairgrounds Speedway was what became Louisville Downs.
 Over the years, despite phone calls and inquirys, nobody was able to conform locations.

 This book below provided insights on both.

The encyclopedia of Louisville
By John E. Kleber

Louisville Downs
Louisville Downs. Situated on an eighty-seven acre tract on Poplar Level Rd., just south of I-264. Louisville Downs, the city's half-mile harness track, opened on July 14, 1966, and closed on September 2, 1991. The track, notable for its crushed-limestone racing oval, large infield lake, and pepeermint-striped, glass-enclosed grandstand, was the home of the Kentucky Pacing Derby, a major event on the harness racing circuit.
The first president of the track and its guiding force for twenty years was William H. King, a louisville promoter. In its heyday, from 1976-82, the track had a daily average of more than 3,000 fans and a handle of over $220,000. During its final season, the Louisville Downs handle had shrunk to about fifty thousand dollars.
King introduced computerized wasgering at the track, live CABLE TELEVISION coverage, such betting spectaculars as the Big 1., (a double perfecta wager), and Call-A-Bet, the first wagering-by-phone system in Kentucky and one of the first in the nation. In December 1988 the track was the first in Kentucky to accept wagering on a full simulcast card while conducting live racing.
In November 1986, King, who initially had invested five hundred thousand dollars in the track, purchased along with his daughter and others, 100 percent of the track's stock for $5.1 million from Detroit businessman Raymond Kolowich and his family. Four years later, in September 1990, J. Chester Porter, Maria Bouvette, and Ched Jennings bought the track for a reported $7 million, and King's reign ended. Only a year later, in September 1991, CHURCHILL DOWNS bought the facility from Porter, Bouvette for a package deal of $6 million. The site became a Churchill Downs training facility and an intertrack wagering site called Sports Spectrum.
-Joseph Wooodson Oglesby-