Calder and Fairgrounds USED to be Race Tracks for Players

[wolfagain]

Both seem close to going the way of Bay Meadows, Pimlico, Bowie,
Garden State, Tropical Park, DRC, Hazel Park, and about 20 others I
remember. Calder is especially sad. Now the home of 12.5 Md Claimers
and not much more. When Calder opened the owner....forgot his
name....wanted to challenge Hialeah and Gulfstream as a premier FL
winter track and often applied for the choice mid winter dates. In
fact it was the Calder connections(owners) who conspired with Mr.
Knoll from Gulfstream that spelled the end of Hialeah. Quit simply
they voted Hialeah OUT! There just wasn't enough dates for 3 major
tracks in S. Florida. Calder thought they would get Hialeah's dates
even though GP had locked up the choice mid winter dates(with Calder's
help!) In the Old Days Calder used to run the "Tropical Park" meet at
Calder and had a lot of good horses from Detroit, Chicago, and Omaha.
Now a preview track for rendering plant claimers.
Fairgrounds now is a sewer hole for LA breds. Horses win Tax Payer
subsidized purses re: socialized racing to keep little guys in the the
game who breed their mares to 1.5K stallions, running 6F in 1:13 and
change! FG often draws only 1,000 fans to the track, sometime less.
The future for racing is bleak! ONLY High Class horses running for
BIG purses draw fans. Many tracks today will be gone soon. I only see
about 7 that will survive in 10 years, probably less. Those are CD,
KEE, SAR. BEL, AP, SA OR HOL(only one!) maybe GP and OP.