Goodbye Bay Meadows

[DerbyCat]

To those that think Bay Meadows closure is a good thing, perhaps it is better for the game in the long run. Yes, the fields are small and the same horses seem to run every three weeks and they're cr*ppy horses (well, not all of them) but they're horses (and trainers and jockeys) that I know and care about. And it's not like racing in Northern California is going away, we still have Golden Gate Fields and now they'll just have more dates at the Pleasanton track over in the East Bay (dates beyond the fair racing that's held there every summer). A lot of the trainers here have been running horses down in SoCal - Hollendorfer, Moger, Miyadi... and Art Sherman moved everything down there and left his son Steve to cover the northern tracks (and Steve's been doing really well, winning almost 30%). Those of you that know and play the big tracks back east will never understand the love that some of us have for the smaller tracks - look at how we used to get 100+ posts for a Monday night of Mountaineer racing - the big tracks and their money may be good for the financial future of racing but it's the smaller tracks that create and nurture some of the most committed racing fans.

I don't expect everyone to understand my love for a small track, I just wanted to let you know that a place important to horse racing history is closing... and that's really sad.