TenCentSuper
03-04-2006, 09:48 AM
Story on www.pnrc.com (sorry, not bothering to link it) dated yesterday that April 8th will be the last live card raced at Penn before they demo the old grandstand to build the new racino. Live racing will resume April 26 before a temporary grandstand.
I was at Penn since the beginning, as a little kid going with my family. Here's a nostalgic synopsis of "how it used to be..."
Ten races, Sunday afternoons only. Later, they ran Saturday nights and Sundays, and boy the place was PACKED. They charged for parking, a buck or two. If you got there "late" (just before the first race) you had a hike to get to the grandstand. Anybody who's been there will attest that the lot is immense, too. People used to take a page out of their form and hang it over their seats in the grandstand so as not to lose their seat when they got up to make bets. Getting grandstand seats near the wire was impossible unless you showed up at 11am (post time was 1:30 I believe on Sundays).
You had bet windows and cash windows. You had denomination windows, and certain exotics windows. If you wanted a WPS bet and an exacta, you had to bet, get out of line, and go get in the exacta line. Getting shut out was commonplace and they had boatloads of windows open and running.
I realize the older guys here remember these days quite clearly, but maybe some younger guys do not.
The tri was called the "Big Triple" and was a $3 bet. They also had a $3 quiniela. There were no $1 boxes of any kind. You had to play the ex both ways for $2 each if you wanted to box it.
General admission was a few bucks (forget exactly) and they had valet parking for anybody who wanted it. My grandparents used to say only the "big shots" could afford to sit "upstairs" in the club levels. The program consisted basically of the names, trainers, numbers, jocks, and weights. No PP's in the program. You had to buy the form for those. And I don't think you could buy the form at the track, you had to bring it in from outside. There were at least five guys selling tip sheets. One was "Jack's Little Green Card." Another was "JJ's." I think there was a "Mike's" too, but definitely JJ and Jack. Last time I was there, there is only ONE tip guy left and he's been there since the start. The most striking difference in the action compared to today was THAT WAS ALL THERE WAS, that card, THAT DAY. Unless you had a bookie, (which none of us did) the only action you had was the live card unfolding in front of you. I think this made for smarter bettors, I don't know. You had nothing to do for the 25 minutes between races but study the next race. You weren't running off to throw two bucks on a longshot at Pompano or something while you were waiting.
Sadly, those days of the big crowds and "event" atmosphere are long, long gone. The place is empty, except for the hard core. So the grandstand and the grounds were never some beautiful Saratoga and the horses weren't going to run in G1's anyplace, but it was where I was exposed to the game and I will be sad to see the place go. I know Cauthen and Day both ran there. Probably some others of note. The place had its ups and downs. I hope there are more ups in years to come.
I was at Penn since the beginning, as a little kid going with my family. Here's a nostalgic synopsis of "how it used to be..."
Ten races, Sunday afternoons only. Later, they ran Saturday nights and Sundays, and boy the place was PACKED. They charged for parking, a buck or two. If you got there "late" (just before the first race) you had a hike to get to the grandstand. Anybody who's been there will attest that the lot is immense, too. People used to take a page out of their form and hang it over their seats in the grandstand so as not to lose their seat when they got up to make bets. Getting grandstand seats near the wire was impossible unless you showed up at 11am (post time was 1:30 I believe on Sundays).
You had bet windows and cash windows. You had denomination windows, and certain exotics windows. If you wanted a WPS bet and an exacta, you had to bet, get out of line, and go get in the exacta line. Getting shut out was commonplace and they had boatloads of windows open and running.
I realize the older guys here remember these days quite clearly, but maybe some younger guys do not.
The tri was called the "Big Triple" and was a $3 bet. They also had a $3 quiniela. There were no $1 boxes of any kind. You had to play the ex both ways for $2 each if you wanted to box it.
General admission was a few bucks (forget exactly) and they had valet parking for anybody who wanted it. My grandparents used to say only the "big shots" could afford to sit "upstairs" in the club levels. The program consisted basically of the names, trainers, numbers, jocks, and weights. No PP's in the program. You had to buy the form for those. And I don't think you could buy the form at the track, you had to bring it in from outside. There were at least five guys selling tip sheets. One was "Jack's Little Green Card." Another was "JJ's." I think there was a "Mike's" too, but definitely JJ and Jack. Last time I was there, there is only ONE tip guy left and he's been there since the start. The most striking difference in the action compared to today was THAT WAS ALL THERE WAS, that card, THAT DAY. Unless you had a bookie, (which none of us did) the only action you had was the live card unfolding in front of you. I think this made for smarter bettors, I don't know. You had nothing to do for the 25 minutes between races but study the next race. You weren't running off to throw two bucks on a longshot at Pompano or something while you were waiting.
Sadly, those days of the big crowds and "event" atmosphere are long, long gone. The place is empty, except for the hard core. So the grandstand and the grounds were never some beautiful Saratoga and the horses weren't going to run in G1's anyplace, but it was where I was exposed to the game and I will be sad to see the place go. I know Cauthen and Day both ran there. Probably some others of note. The place had its ups and downs. I hope there are more ups in years to come.