I gave my life to harness racing. These dirty crooks took away my home and my job - my way of living, What right did they have? How many were paid off to allow our beloved, most prestigious and historic racetrack to be plowed under for another Home Depot?!?
@@scottrozzi1780 You’re wrong about those fixed races. We raced clean and our horses did well. Not everything is corrupt. Watch my horses race. Their names are Docs Fella, Skip by Night, and Division Street. There’s plenty of races you can see right here on TH-cam. To this day I’m still so proud of them all.
This should be a textbook case lesson to all racing participants of what will happen when you let government get involved and create sweetheart, under the table, shady deals with their friends, for kickbacks you can never trace. Back when this happened, it was for land to flip and build shopping malls or housing. Now, its for big casino companies to get pre built facilities with parking and amenities, plumbing, sewage, roads, etc, and then just let them run the racetrack into the ground. The important lesson has always been.....if the owners of the track have no vested interest in actual racing, like say Steinbrenner and Kadish did, they will only work to destroy it. It happened in Ontario, it has happened in other places, and while times are good now, it will happen in Ohio and Pennsylvania. When it does, you can say goodbye to The Meadows, Philly and Pocono, and Northfield will go back to what it was a few years ago, and Miami Valley, Dayton and Scioto likely die off as well. Its very simple. History always repeats in these things. Sadly, horse people dont have the connections or the know how to stop it, and the big owners just ship their operations to the next place that hasnt died yet. If not for Gural, and his love of racing, The Big M would be dead today, just as Balmoral and Maywood died just a few years ago. Its just the fact of the matter. If you give these big corps the ownership, you have to make a clause that is bulletproof that they cant sell it or the land for at least 50 years so they have no incentive to buy it in the first place, unless they really believe racing is viable. Good faith with these people is foolish blind trust. Roosevelt people found that out the hard way.
We need to do everything we can to save this wonderful American sport. It’s so rare in that it’s something the whole family can get involved in. It really is a great American sport. If folks just had a chance to experience it, they would fall in love with it too.
Everyone knew back then that either Yonkers or Roosevelt would close, so the Sharpers moved in and made a killing on the land. Why Roosevelt and not Yonkers? Well, Yonkers was for sale for years with no takers; talk being that there was some kind of restriction on the land that prevented buyers' interest. The truth is that now just about all harness tracks still racing get state support, either directly, or through casino deals. People stay home at night. They gamble on state lotteries. In Barry Meadows' book, Success at the Harness Races, he shows a chart from Wed. Eve., March 23, 1966: Total handle $1,835,435 and Attendance 18,675 an ordinary overnight program (Remember that $1.8 million back then was probably as good as $8 or $9 million today).
While the closing of Roosevelt Raceway looks like it was a bad deal to let these owners take over and close the track the business of harness racing was in decline at the time. Part of the problem was the opening of Meadowlands in north Jersey that was relatively close to both Yonkers and Roosevelt Raceway. It was new and offering better purses so both the best horses and the people who bet on harness racing followed to Meadowlands. One of the things that I felt the state could have done was to reevaluate the racing dates given to Yonkers and Roosevelt. Since Yonkers was closer to Meadowlands those dates that ran the same time as Meadowlands should have been given to Roosevelt Raceway. When Meadowlands was running Thoroughbred races or not operating then Yonkers should run. While this would not have solved the total problem of the lower popularity of harness racing it would at least put more geographic space between the two competing race tracks. Also at the time the state lottery was also hurting the tracks by taking away many of the smaller betting customers that help fill the stands by offering big jackpots for a low dollar bet. As mentioned if it were not for the casino licenses given to the tracks after Roosevelt Raceway closed even more of the tracks in New York would have closed. And today that may still happen as all the states seem to continue to push for the expansion of casinos. As more are added although the amount of money bet goes up it is beginning to hurt the already open casinos. If too many open you will see both the horse race industry and tracks continue to close as well as some of the older and smaller casinos that are operating now.
What’s that supposed to mean? That it doesn’t matter anymore? When everyone is dead all will be forgiven? I sure hope not. I sure hope there’s justice one day.
I spent many evenings there in my childhood.
Thanks to the poster who sent mr the DVD on opening night. Sadly this video closes the book.
I gave my life to harness racing. These dirty crooks took away my home and my job - my way of living, What right did they have? How many were paid off to allow our beloved, most prestigious and historic racetrack to be plowed under for another Home Depot?!?
Fixed races, lottery, internet all were going to put racing under. Everything has a fad
@@scottrozzi1780 You’re wrong about those fixed races. We raced clean and our horses did well. Not everything is corrupt. Watch my horses race. Their names are Docs Fella, Skip by Night, and Division Street. There’s plenty of races you can see right here on TH-cam. To this day I’m still so proud of them all.
I hope you live long enough to have to eat your words.
the darkest and saddest day in Nassau county history, rip Roosevelt field
Corruption! Can you say - "CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT"?
From your mouth to God’s Ears, I pray!
This should be a textbook case lesson to all racing participants of what will happen when you let government get involved and create sweetheart, under the table, shady deals with their friends, for kickbacks you can never trace. Back when this happened, it was for land to flip and build shopping malls or housing. Now, its for big casino companies to get pre built facilities with parking and amenities, plumbing, sewage, roads, etc, and then just let them run the racetrack into the ground.
The important lesson has always been.....if the owners of the track have no vested interest in actual racing, like say Steinbrenner and Kadish did, they will only work to destroy it. It happened in Ontario, it has happened in other places, and while times are good now, it will happen in Ohio and Pennsylvania. When it does, you can say goodbye to The Meadows, Philly and Pocono, and Northfield will go back to what it was a few years ago, and Miami Valley, Dayton and Scioto likely die off as well. Its very simple. History always repeats in these things. Sadly, horse people dont have the connections or the know how to stop it, and the big owners just ship their operations to the next place that hasnt died yet. If not for Gural, and his love of racing, The Big M would be dead today, just as Balmoral and Maywood died just a few years ago. Its just the fact of the matter. If you give these big corps the ownership, you have to make a clause that is bulletproof that they cant sell it or the land for at least 50 years so they have no incentive to buy it in the first place, unless they really believe racing is viable. Good faith with these people is foolish blind trust. Roosevelt people found that out the hard way.
We need to do everything we can to save this wonderful American sport. It’s so rare in that it’s something the whole family can get involved in. It really is a great American sport. If folks just had a chance to experience it, they would fall in love with it too.
Truth!!
ITS ALL SO FUCKING SAD.
Some people made a ton of money off that deal.
Everyone knew back then that either Yonkers or Roosevelt would close, so the Sharpers moved in and made a killing on the land. Why Roosevelt and not Yonkers? Well, Yonkers was for sale for years with no takers; talk being that there was some kind of restriction on the land that prevented buyers' interest. The truth is that now just about all harness tracks still racing get state support, either directly, or through casino deals. People stay home at night. They gamble on state lotteries. In Barry Meadows' book, Success at the Harness Races, he shows a chart from Wed. Eve., March 23, 1966: Total handle $1,835,435 and Attendance 18,675 an ordinary overnight program (Remember that $1.8 million back then was probably as good as $8 or $9 million today).
While the closing of Roosevelt Raceway looks like it was a bad deal to let these owners take over and close the track the business of harness racing was in decline at the time. Part of the problem was the opening of Meadowlands in north Jersey that was relatively close to both Yonkers and Roosevelt Raceway. It was new and offering better purses so both the best horses and the people who bet on harness racing followed to Meadowlands. One of the things that I felt the state could have done was to reevaluate the racing dates given to Yonkers and Roosevelt. Since Yonkers was closer to Meadowlands those dates that ran the same time as Meadowlands should have been given to Roosevelt Raceway. When Meadowlands was running Thoroughbred races or not operating then Yonkers should run. While this would not have solved the total problem of the lower popularity of harness racing it would at least put more geographic space between the two competing race tracks. Also at the time the state lottery was also hurting the tracks by taking away many of the smaller betting customers that help fill the stands by offering big jackpots for a low dollar bet. As mentioned if it were not for the casino licenses given to the tracks after Roosevelt Raceway closed even more of the tracks in New York would have closed. And today that may still happen as all the states seem to continue to push for the expansion of casinos. As more are added although the amount of money bet goes up it is beginning to hurt the already open casinos. If too many open you will see both the horse race industry and tracks continue to close as well as some of the older and smaller casinos that are operating now.
It was a dirty filthy deal done in secret and they cooked the books to make it look like they had no choice. They didn’t fool anybody.
16:41 will tell ya the whole story
Most of these people are dead now
What’s that supposed to mean? That it doesn’t matter anymore? When everyone is dead all will be forgiven? I sure hope not. I sure hope there’s justice one day.