"Most Beautiful Tracks in America"
 

Somehow, I don't think Philly Park,or Beulah are included.There seem to be a lot of birds surviving at Philly though(proof that it is not a nuclear test site.)

from what all i've seen of hialeah, it's a beautiful track..or was. supposedly they are going to put in for racing dates. sure would be nice to see the return of the flamingo stakes.

Scuds i have news for you, check back at Philly in about 2-3 years and you are gonna see a whole new ballgame.
Philly is a sports town through and through, fans are rabid in their zest for sports.
They are a racing town as well, and a big one. When smarty came back to Philly they had like a zillion people waiting for him at the airport, and on belmont day when he went for the crown they sent busloads of people over and had their own park at full capacity to watch the simulcast.
Place wasn't doing that well and when Delaware got slots all the horsemen went away. But lemme tell you something, given a choice between living in Delaware or a town like Philly(proud to say Steve took me in there on the way home from the Preakness to see the town, and I had the most incredible Philly cheesesteak sandwich, it was really awesome to see the place for teh first time) horsemen will choose philly any day of the week once the purses get the bump from the slots.
They've already announced one good purse increase and the slots just started.
In a couple of years you won't be able to get stalls, and the fact the place was able to stay open despite the tragic cards they have put on for years is amazing. Imagine the handle and crowd increase once they are putting on a real LIVE show.
Telling you, a couple of years from now you won't believe the place.

Maybe they will do something for the visual.Right now,the only thing green is the fence.

Are you serious?? That really would be fantastic. I used to go to Hialeah as a kid (my mother is from Hialeah) and it's the 2nd most beautiful track I've ever been to (behind Saratoga, of course.)

Oracle, where did you go for cheesesteaks?

The trainer of this year's BC Classic winner and this year's Belmont Stakes winner just won a race at Philadelphia Park. Wonder if he even knows?

Steve took me to Pat's I think? He said there were two famous places and the one I had was incredibly good. The place that uses cheese wiz!!

LOL they all use wiz :p

Pat's is good. Better than Geno's (the place across the street.) But if you want a REALLY good steak, go to Sonny's, 2nd and Market St...

don't get your hopes up too high. they're tried several times in the past to get dates, with the other tracks down there managing to keep them from getting any.
i think it's a crying shame it's been down, especially since gulfstream isn't too horse race fan friendly.

one word...keeneland.

Phil..

I took Mike to Jim's..

Personally though, I'm a Tony Luke's guy for the Italian Pork..

Paid $6 to win which I found amazingly high due to who was training and where the race was :rolleyes:

Betcha this ranks right up there in his top 3 wins of 2006.

There seem to be a lot of birds surviving at Philly though(proof that it is not a nuclear test site.)

I'm convinced they use the infield at Philadelphia Park as a community dump during the off season. That would explain the curiously large amount of vultures and various other ugly birds gathering in the infield.

The birds heard slots were coming in and wanted to get a good place in line.

All personal bias aside, the birds at Saratoga just seem to be better looking than those ones you see gathering today at Philadelphia. Reminds me of that movie the Birds.

Tony Luke's is my 2nd favorite. They have one at the Borgata in AC now...

good choice, i agree.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...lr%3D%26sa%3DN

Flamingo Stakes won by Citation http://www.horse-races.net/calumet/1949-jcgc.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...l%3Den%26lr%3D

The best scenery is SANTA ANITA. Great floral display in the infield and a faboulous backdrop of the san gabriel mountains. Also Arcadia is a pretty nice place to live unlike Inglewood.

Saratoga For Me, Every Place Else A Distant Second. Hialeah Was A Beauty Too Bad Brunetti Would Not Spend Money To Upkeep Whenit Was Open And Sadly It Will Never Be Back. How Bout Ugliest Tracks I Will Name Two Calder And Finger Lakes, Whatcha Think.

Being from CT, I am a women's bball fan. In 2000 my UConn Hussies led by GENO Auriemma played PAT Summitt's Lady Vols. Lots of talk about the cheese steaks.

My choices of the best
 

The best scenery is easily Santa Anita. The view is outstanding.
The best atmosphere is Saratoga. I want my ashes spread over the place.
The prettiest is Hialeah

saratoga . del mar..

Beulah Park on a snowy gray January day

that ryhmes:p

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...lr%3D%26sa%3DG

http://www.mcchump.com/hia01n8.jpg

Beulah is in pretty tough shape but one thing is that they keep it fairly clean. I mean, it's old, built in '23 or something, but at least it's clean. I always have a good time when I go there.

Of the Ohio tracks, River Downs is actually pretty attractive. It's bargain basement racing with nickle claimers and such but it's an attractive place.

The place that gets worse every year is Turfway. It's an absolute pigsty. The doors are falling off the restroom stalls, the floor's filthy, there's rust dripping down the sides of the building. I'm surprised they even get anybody to insure the place -- the stairs and landings near the paddock are so rusty that I wouldn't be suprised to see them collapse and kill some people. Some of the beams are eaten away with serious rust.

Of the tracks I've seen it would have to be Keeneland for sheer beauty although Churchill Downs on a big race day may be even better.

Never been to Arlington Park but I hear it's the bomb. I've never heard anyone knock it and I've heard a lot of people say it's the cleanest track around.

Arlington is tremendous. If you live around Cincy, its about a 5 to 5 1/2 hour drive but well worth it. Besides AP, I'd have to put Hialeah up there. I should add I've never been to SA or Kee (hope to hit Kee this spring).

arlington of course is the most beautiful track in the entire world! however i am surprised some of you guys didnt mention GLD or fairmount LMFAO!!!!!!!!! aight back to being serious a couple of nice smaller tracks are indiana downs and river downs. both within less than 2hrs from one another

COLONIAL DOWNS:cool:

Beulah has the twins..

Fairmont Park is just plain sad.

Keeneland.

ONLY ONE place for pork sandwich.... Johns Pork House.(south philly ).. ( open M-F only )

Nicest (I have personally seen): Saratoga, Churchill (mostly b/c of the history)
Want to see (before I die): Santa Anita, Royal Ascot, Woodbine
Places I wouldn’t go if the entire forum bank-rolled me: ANYWHERE in OHIO, does the state as a whole even have 1 turf course? A close 2nd is Philly Park


-bt-

River Downs has a turf course, it's actually a nice little track, I would go to River Downs over Turfway any day of the week, they have better horses at Turfway, but the place is depressing...

Ugliest is Turfway or Beulah or Great Lakes Downs. Nicest I would have to say Keeneland or Santa Anita. I haven't been to Saratoga so I can say anything. But any racetrack is pretty when I leave with a couple of bucks up.

well i didn't know that, thanks Point. If i was in the 'Natti and i was jonesing for a race track, i would take the 70+ mile treck to Churchill. Turfway is probably one of my least favorite tracks, I've never scene so many 30-1+ shots win anywhere else with such ease (maybe at Calder). Then every race Leporoux (sp) rides there they knock him down to 6-5 like he's the next Pat Day. All and all, for me, it's an IMPOSSIBLE track to cap.

The only way you would find me @ River Downs (or any OHIO track) is if Pete Rose himself asked me for help on the late and early PK3

-bt-