Delaware Park offers best of racing memories
Jul 16, 2013 21:44:09 GMT -5
Post by cait on Jul 16, 2013 21:44:09 GMT -5
summer means the spa, delmar and............delaware! just read the following in today's drf and agree with every word! yeah - there's now a casino but it's hard to loathe it because it did bring back delaware park which is a beautiful and historic track
i remember when kids weren't allowed in the track so my granny would get stuck with us in the picnic area, but you could get to the rail on the clubhouse turn and feel close to the horses and see and hear a lot! (yeah - during the week it was possible to get to the trainers box where my dad would tell me to sit up tall and try to look 12 lol)
if you're ever nearby (95's not too far away) drop in - jerardi is correct - it is charming!
Delaware Park offers best of racing memories
By Dick Jerardi
When I first became a regular at the Maryland tracks in the mid-1970s, Delaware Park was really the fourth wheel on the mile circuit. It would be Bowie in the winter, Pimlico in the spring, Delaware Park in the summer, and Laurel in the fall, with a little Timonium thrown in to the mix for reasons that have never been entirely clear.
Can’t count all the trips I made up I-95 to go to Delaware Park. Terrific racing. Wonderful grass course. Old-school paddock. Classic grounds.
There are just a few race tracks I absolutely love. Delaware Park is on the list.
They will run the Delaware Handicap on Saturday. I am not sure of the first Del Cap I saw, but I think it was 1977 when Calumet’s Our Mims won. I did not see Susan’s Girl, Obeah, Politely, Flower Bowl, or Busanda, but I have no memory of the last Del Cap I missed. And I won’t be missing this one when Royal Delta goes for a repeat as the track’s marquee race gets its Grade 1 status back.
I so wish we all had been able to see Obeah’s greatest daughter go for the 1991 Del Cap. You just know Christiana’s ill-fated Go for Wand would have been there representing the home team.
The only race I have seen live I would compare with the 2011 Del Cap stretch duel between Blind Luck and eventual Horse of the Year Havre de Grace was the 1989 Preakness between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer.
Don’t remember who was running on a summer Sunday in 1985 when I ended a 30-hour gambling odyssey at Del Park by trying to get out on an Arabian race.
Started the previous day with a trip to Monmouth Park to watch Spend a Buck get upset in his first race since that memorable Jersey Derby. Went down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City for the Matchmaker that night. Spent the night in a few of the Atlantic City casinos playing blackjack and craps.
I don’t remember how the Arabian did, but I doubt it went well.
No matter. All trips to Delaware Park are good trips.
It has been like that since 1937 when the track opened. It was a very sad day when the track closed in 1982. But it reopened a few years later and I remember tossing a whole bunch of money at the twin tri.
Then, the slots came and Delaware Park was back in a big, if different way.
No matter. Times change, but the essence of the Delaware Park never really changes.
You are at the track where Afleet Alex and Barbaro got their starts. You are at the track that hosted the first $100,000 race for fillies and mares (the 1953 version of the Del Cap). You are the track where the years change, but the faces never do.
It is old. It is familiar. It is charming. It is Delaware Park.
This building is the "Jocks Room". I think is now is officially a historical site.
The jocks wait on the Jocks Bench as their mounts are being saddled. Below Justin Shepherd, Dusty Shepherd, Gabriel Saez, Ramon Dominguez and Osvaldo Vargas waiting.
(from the bugboys blog)
Paddock
Picnic Grove
Delaware Park History
from track site - includes video of Barbaro winning his first race - at Delaware
www.delawarepark.com/about_history.php
i remember when kids weren't allowed in the track so my granny would get stuck with us in the picnic area, but you could get to the rail on the clubhouse turn and feel close to the horses and see and hear a lot! (yeah - during the week it was possible to get to the trainers box where my dad would tell me to sit up tall and try to look 12 lol)
if you're ever nearby (95's not too far away) drop in - jerardi is correct - it is charming!
Delaware Park offers best of racing memories
By Dick Jerardi
When I first became a regular at the Maryland tracks in the mid-1970s, Delaware Park was really the fourth wheel on the mile circuit. It would be Bowie in the winter, Pimlico in the spring, Delaware Park in the summer, and Laurel in the fall, with a little Timonium thrown in to the mix for reasons that have never been entirely clear.
Can’t count all the trips I made up I-95 to go to Delaware Park. Terrific racing. Wonderful grass course. Old-school paddock. Classic grounds.
There are just a few race tracks I absolutely love. Delaware Park is on the list.
They will run the Delaware Handicap on Saturday. I am not sure of the first Del Cap I saw, but I think it was 1977 when Calumet’s Our Mims won. I did not see Susan’s Girl, Obeah, Politely, Flower Bowl, or Busanda, but I have no memory of the last Del Cap I missed. And I won’t be missing this one when Royal Delta goes for a repeat as the track’s marquee race gets its Grade 1 status back.
I so wish we all had been able to see Obeah’s greatest daughter go for the 1991 Del Cap. You just know Christiana’s ill-fated Go for Wand would have been there representing the home team.
The only race I have seen live I would compare with the 2011 Del Cap stretch duel between Blind Luck and eventual Horse of the Year Havre de Grace was the 1989 Preakness between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer.
Don’t remember who was running on a summer Sunday in 1985 when I ended a 30-hour gambling odyssey at Del Park by trying to get out on an Arabian race.
Started the previous day with a trip to Monmouth Park to watch Spend a Buck get upset in his first race since that memorable Jersey Derby. Went down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City for the Matchmaker that night. Spent the night in a few of the Atlantic City casinos playing blackjack and craps.
I don’t remember how the Arabian did, but I doubt it went well.
No matter. All trips to Delaware Park are good trips.
It has been like that since 1937 when the track opened. It was a very sad day when the track closed in 1982. But it reopened a few years later and I remember tossing a whole bunch of money at the twin tri.
Then, the slots came and Delaware Park was back in a big, if different way.
No matter. Times change, but the essence of the Delaware Park never really changes.
You are at the track where Afleet Alex and Barbaro got their starts. You are at the track that hosted the first $100,000 race for fillies and mares (the 1953 version of the Del Cap). You are the track where the years change, but the faces never do.
It is old. It is familiar. It is charming. It is Delaware Park.
This building is the "Jocks Room". I think is now is officially a historical site.
The jocks wait on the Jocks Bench as their mounts are being saddled. Below Justin Shepherd, Dusty Shepherd, Gabriel Saez, Ramon Dominguez and Osvaldo Vargas waiting.
(from the bugboys blog)
Paddock
Picnic Grove
Delaware Park History
from track site - includes video of Barbaro winning his first race - at Delaware
www.delawarepark.com/about_history.php
