New Meadowlands To Debut. Priceless!

[careless hal]

Jay Bergman: Plenty to look forward to as new Meadowlands grandstand opens
By Jay Bergman
The Meadowlands will open for live racing on November 23.
“If you build it, he will come.”

The New Meadowlands grandstand didn’t rise from cornfields. It sits opposite a grandstand that in 1976 was opened and people came. They came in numbers not simply to see the building, but mostly to see the show on the one-mile track.

Sure, to those harness fans that had spent lifetimes watching horses go around in circles twice before a bet was decided, the innovation of the mile track was something to behold.

On Saturday night the climate will be different.

On Saturday night there will be no going back to the past.

[DRF HARNESS: Sign Up for the FREE DRF Harness Newsletter Today!]

On Saturday night it will be in fact a “new” era simply because it will be the grandstand that is the show. The field as we know it will remain the same other than the proximity of the finish wire altered.

It’s going to be weird looking forward and looking back at the same time. There was no “other” grandstand in place when we set foot in the Meadowlands on September 1, 1976.

But 1976 and the races that took place on that night will bare no resemblance to what will be on the track this Saturday night in East Rutherford. The differences are mind-boggling.

To those coming to New Jersey for the first time to see a harness race, it was a who’s who of standardbred racehorses and drivers and trainers, many coming from outside of the metropolitan New York area.

The Meadowlands we’ll see on Saturday night, or at least the product we’ll see on the racetrack, will be vastly improved from the track’s original opening night.

That’s the way it should be.

A new grandstand hopes to usher in a new era and Jeff Gural and company are hoping to bring the best harness racing they can to those looking for a weekend night out. The premise and principle idea behind the racing schedule shows that we are light years removed from 1976.

The majority of the Meadowlands racing days from this Saturday through the first Saturday in August 2014 are Fridays and Saturdays. While horsemen and this observer wish to see an expansion of racing days in January and February, it’s hard to think things can be the same as they were in 1976.

I had some friends back then who were regulars at Roosevelt and Yonkers. They were half-mile track bettors plain and simply because those were the only tracks within an hours driving distance. For them there were no options until one arrived in New Jersey, not far removed from midtown Manhattan.

“We were there every night,” said Gary.

The fact that Gary and his crew made the trip from Long Island each racing day was exciting to them at the time. There was no concern about traffic. There was no concern about tolls or the price of gasoline. There was also no concern that they were giving up Roosevelt or Yonkers to join a new tradition at The Meadowlands.

The shift from six-nights-a-week of live racing to just two implies that people like Gary would not make that trip each and every night even if there was racing.

It’s a hard concept to fight against given the ease at which today’s gamblers can place a bet. Gary sits in his house today and doesn’t have to leave in order to watch or wager on races.

Yet there are those who will want to get out. There are those who are looking for excitement, something they can see in person and something they can enjoy. For them the New Meadowlands grandstand and the races will provide vivid proof that the sport is still very much alive.

Opening night in 2013 won’t have the 40,000 plus in attendance, but there’s a great chance the new building will be bustling with a crowd large enough to add the same buzz that emanated in 1976.

That’s what’s most important as we try to forge through the next era for this sport. Let’s try to convince the next generation that something is happening at the racetrack and it’s a place you should want to go to.

For that the Meadowlands will be showcasing in its first two weeks of action the cream of the racing crop. Thankfully many of the sports leading horses will be on display during that period and even more remarkably many of them have managed to be kept in peak condition.

If all goes as scheduled, this Saturday’s opening night will offer a glimpse of the talent we’re going to see on the November 30 extravaganza.

Missing this week, but hopefully in attendance seven days later will be Captaintreacherous, Bee A Magician and I Luv The Nitelife, all legitimate Horse of the Year candidates.

That’s what’s going to be special this time around. Perhaps for the first and only time, a Horse of the Year title may be decided on one racetrack in three separate races.

To me that’s the best part of this new equation, that despite the lateness in the racing season our sport’s stars are available and willing to go to battle. That the connections of Captaintreacherous, a horse managed for the specific purpose of keeping him fit and ready for late November, may give the sport the shot in the arm it truly needs by providing the spectacle once again of three-year-olds racing against older foes. While sophomores have taken on aged pacers somewhere back in time, it’s just not been done in modern times, perhaps because there was no venue to host.

With the TVG finals on November 30, the New Meadowlands grandstand offers what hopefully will become a tradition for years to come. The opportunity is there to answer racing fans questions and create new fans that want to see something unique.

These are exciting times in harness racing and certainly powerful enough to lure a live audience once again.

 

[NIATROSS]

for me it s hard to get excited abourt 2-3 days a week of racing.
the long extended meets at the meds or spk used to make harness easier to cap and enjoy for me.
horses would run more regularly and form could be established.
now they may be lucky to go 2x a month

[careless hal]

for me it s hard to get excited abourt 2-3 days a week of racing.
the long extended meets at the meds or spk used to make harness easier to cap and enjoy for me.
horses would run more regularly and form could be established.
now they may be lucky to go 2x a month

I agree, hard to get too excited over a part time track. 

[jordanjacob]

I agree, hard to get too excited over a part time track.

at least it's still there with a new 85 million dollar building

 

[RocknRoll]

at least it's still there with a new 85 million dollar building

 

[careless hal]

at least it's still there with a new 85 million dollar building

That and $5 will buy me a latte at Starbucks.

[pezz97]

at least it's still there with a new 85 million dollar building

[The Skipper]

at least it's still there with a new 85 million dollar building

Hell I liked the old building just fine  in the past 2 years I've been to live races at the meadowlands

4 nights, my local track 2 nights. I think every track without slots or help from them races part time with

pretty shitty races. 

[Jeremy]

I agree, hard to get too excited over a part time track.

Yeah that is why I don't bet Churchill 

[careless hal]

Yeah that is why I don't bet Churchill 

Trackmaster pp

Churchill Downs    23 , 22 , 21 , 20 , 17 , 16 , 15 , 14

Meadowlands    23

 

[Jeremy]

Want me to post the 6 months they have no racing?

[careless hal]

Want me to post the 6 months they have no racing?

.

No, just list the weeks they only race 1 or 2 days a week.  You are desperate if you have have to bring in T bred tracks.  Very few race year around and none of the major ones.  Stick to harness tracks. 

[badolpuddytat]

.

No, just list the weeks they only race 1 or 2 days a week.  You are desperate if you have have to bring in T bred tracks.  Very few race year around and none of the major ones.  Stick to harness tracks.

Agreed, also SB's need to race every week, not only for the horse, for the owners too. If purses were 30,000 to 1 million or more like the TB's THEN that maybe different, but that will never happen in our lifetime. PLUS Churchill runs in the Ky circuit with horses racing at Keenland then going to Churchill and after that the decent horses going to Saratoga. How many starts are the cheaper horses going to get at the Med's? two ? for the month?

[Jeremy]

.

No, just list the weeks they only race 1 or 2 days a week.  You are desperate if you have have to bring in T bred tracks.  Very few race year around and none of the major ones.  Stick to harness tracks.

You are saying M1 is a part time track for racing 2 days a week, I am saying that the biggest name in T-breds is arguably Churchill and they are a part time track too, being off for several months.  You are the one getting desperate as you can't refute this.

[careless hal]

You are saying M1 is a part time track for racing 2 days a week, I am saying that the biggest name in T-breds is arguably Churchill and they are a part time track too, being off for several months.  You are the one getting desperate as you can't refute this.

I do refute it!!!!!!!!  You are comparing apples and oranges.  When Churchill does race, it is more than 2 days a week.  As I said No major T bred track races year around.  Santa Anita?  Belmont ?  Saratoga? Keeneland? Arlington?   Now, let's compare the Big M to Woodbine and Mohawk.  They only race 2 days a week?  Yonkers? Chester? The Big M last raced the start of August.  Where have they been the last three months?  The BigM is in trouble if they don't get slots.  It seems crazy that they won't, but where politics is involved, who knows?  Christie was just re-elected.  Gural is a huge Obama fan and Democratic contributor.  Christie wants to run for President.  Where does that leave Gural?  Maybe if Hillary ran for Gov. in NJ he would have a chance.