Yonkers Last race Tuesday 10/2
- Thread starter hogman14
- Start date
YONKERS?? WOW!
IF there is ANY racetrack that I've personally visited, like maybe 5x as much as any other, it would be YONKERS. If I wasn't on a date or (rarely) some kind of a get together somewhere else, you can BET I was at Yonkers on a Fri. or Sat. night. And that wasn't the only nights of the week you'd find me there. Absolutely, LUVED going to that bull ring. Me, Carmine Abbatiello, the Yonkers dirt bomb fans, and usually I'd drag somebody along with me. After the Meadowlands opened, I rode right past that place, over the bridge (G.W.) to good ole Yonkers, N.Y.
I'm talking bout the days of the OLD, wooden sulky, you know with the straight sticks pointed to the front and they creeked when the driver bounced in them There were some terrible pile ups there and I was there, more than once, when a driver/"jockey" was killed there. Any body here of a guy named Stanley Dancer? He was all about the money and I saw his horse drop dead from a heart attack in mid home stretch run. Right in front of me too. I was at the fence, about 30 ft. from it when this happened. Others as well. NO inside passing lane; IF you were leading by a length or so coming out of the clubhouse turn - just start heading to the cashier. IF Carmine was on the horse - run to the cashier cause there'd be a line there. Herve Fillion took over after Carmine's reign.
Here's some interesting stuff I BET nobody here knew about Yonkers:
- they actually ran thoroughbred (flats) there for years before the standard breds. And, NO - I wasn't around to see that
- when word got out that one of NYC's standard bred tracks would go under, EVERYbody knew that Yonkers would be the one to turn into condominiums. SURPRISE, SURPRISE... turned out it was Roosevelt that went under. NOBODY would ever imagine that Yonkers would still be around today.
When I started going to Yonkers, the cashiers had to figure out what you'd get paid when you presented your winning tickets. Get this - the guy on the end window would WRITE DOWN the results on a vertical pad and the pencil he used was linked (with a mechanical arm) to the next window, and the next window, ... all the way down to furthest window at the other end of the betting floor. IT WAS ALL MECHANICAL. I used to get a kick out of watching the pencil writing by itself the results for the teller. IF you had, say $5 on a $9.20 winner, he'd start writing down. on his pad -> 2.5 x 9.20 to figure out what to pay you. :0
- the first time I went to Yonkers (4 of us on a Sat. night), you couldn't get two seat together ON THE SECOND FLOOR and every window was manned on that 2nd floor. These days you can count the no. of fans there. And the 2nd floor is probably closed.
Only advice I can offer these days for that track would only apply IF you can see the horses when come out on the track. Get there early and watch all the horses for that night's race warm up. Watch for TIGHT reigns (driver trying to hold the horse back) .. AND, if that horse draws an inside post and there isn't any other early speedster inside of him.. play that horsie.
G.L. Hogman
IF there is ANY racetrack that I've personally visited, like maybe 5x as much as any other, it would be YONKERS. If I wasn't on a date or (rarely) some kind of a get together somewhere else, you can BET I was at Yonkers on a Fri. or Sat. night. And that wasn't the only nights of the week you'd find me there. Absolutely, LUVED going to that bull ring. Me, Carmine Abbatiello, the Yonkers dirt bomb fans, and usually I'd drag somebody along with me. After the Meadowlands opened, I rode right past that place, over the bridge (G.W.) to good ole Yonkers, N.Y.
I'm talking bout the days of the OLD, wooden sulky, you know with the straight sticks pointed to the front and they creeked when the driver bounced in them There were some terrible pile ups there and I was there, more than once, when a driver/"jockey" was killed there. Any body here of a guy named Stanley Dancer? He was all about the money and I saw his horse drop dead from a heart attack in mid home stretch run. Right in front of me too. I was at the fence, about 30 ft. from it when this happened. Others as well. NO inside passing lane; IF you were leading by a length or so coming out of the clubhouse turn - just start heading to the cashier. IF Carmine was on the horse - run to the cashier cause there'd be a line there. Herve Fillion took over after Carmine's reign.
Here's some interesting stuff I BET nobody here knew about Yonkers:
- they actually ran thoroughbred (flats) there for years before the standard breds. And, NO - I wasn't around to see that
- when word got out that one of NYC's standard bred tracks would go under, EVERYbody knew that Yonkers would be the one to turn into condominiums. SURPRISE, SURPRISE... turned out it was Roosevelt that went under. NOBODY would ever imagine that Yonkers would still be around today.
When I started going to Yonkers, the cashiers had to figure out what you'd get paid when you presented your winning tickets. Get this - the guy on the end window would WRITE DOWN the results on a vertical pad and the pencil he used was linked (with a mechanical arm) to the next window, and the next window, ... all the way down to furthest window at the other end of the betting floor. IT WAS ALL MECHANICAL. I used to get a kick out of watching the pencil writing by itself the results for the teller. IF you had, say $5 on a $9.20 winner, he'd start writing down. on his pad -> 2.5 x 9.20 to figure out what to pay you. :0
- the first time I went to Yonkers (4 of us on a Sat. night), you couldn't get two seat together ON THE SECOND FLOOR and every window was manned on that 2nd floor. These days you can count the no. of fans there. And the 2nd floor is probably closed.
Only advice I can offer these days for that track would only apply IF you can see the horses when come out on the track. Get there early and watch all the horses for that night's race warm up. Watch for TIGHT reigns (driver trying to hold the horse back) .. AND, if that horse draws an inside post and there isn't any other early speedster inside of him.. play that horsie.
G.L. Hogman