Have a Good Day at the Big A!

Tom Durkin's friendly exhortation greets racing fans every race day at Aqueduct in Queens. I visited the track for the first time on Saturday on a beautiful, warm Veterans Day - arriving via the 'A' subway line. The in-house tv preview show presented video of Seattle Slew winning his last race in the Stuyvesant at Aqueduct on Veterans Day 28 years ago in 1978. It was a Friday and there was an announced attendance of 28,049. A sparse gathering of 4,355 settled in for the holiday racing card yesterday.

The facility is obviously awaiting the building/beginning of the slot machine era. The pigeons have pretty much taken over a good portion of the upper levels of the grandstand - there were still a couple of diehards sitting in the filthly seats. There was plenty of room to spread out at tables in spaces that obviously used to be well-used back in the day - the Saratoga room, the Man o'War room. Equestris is located at the top floor of the building and costs a dollar extra to enter. That is where the dining room is located. It was nice to clearly see the great Durkin in his lair looking out over the track.

Pretty much what I expected based on watching races at the track on television. Must have been a grand old place when it opened on September 14, 1959 with 40,000 in the stands and all through the 1960s when it filled in when Belmont Park was being rebuilt. The 2nd Breeders Cup was held there in 1985. But now 21 years later, it is depending on the machines to save the day.