Santa Anita

[stark]

Were you there on Opening Day?

[CA_Chrome]

Sigh...that was back when horse racing still drew tens of thousands to the tracks daily, and when top-level horses became national sports heroes. How did it all fall apart so badly in the ensuing 82 years?

[stark]

Sigh...that was back when horse racing still drew tens of thousands to the tracks daily, and when top-level horses became national sports heroes. How did it all fall apart so badly in the ensuing 82 years?

Pretty sure it's due to the Information Age and gamblers treating the game more like Day Trading stocks on Wall Street than getting to know the horses and the connections.

What's really amazing is that back in '34 people bet a minimum $2 to win on their horse, same as today!  How much of their paycheck was that???

Too many gamblers today know that the 7 should have the lead at the quarter pole but don't know the name of the horse or jockey as they're glued to their TV screen across the country or worse yet on their "smart"phone! watching the 5th from Mountaineer!

[Dusty]

EXACTLY but those were also the days when people cheered for THEIR horse - Citation, Seabiscuit, War Admiral, Swaps etc  Not to mention the minions who loved their home town heroes - because THEY RAN - we need more California Chromes