Article about racing at the Marshfield Fair

[propro]

August always meant Saratoga was back and the Mass fairs were soon to follow.  Marshfield was just too far to hit for a day trip for me, so I never saw the races there. The hope for Great Barrington to reopen is still there, but maybe it's more hope than likelihood at this point.  


www.patriotledger.com/entertainmentlife/20200822/summer-of-nostalgia-that-time-when-horse-racing-was-sure-bet-at-marshfield-fair

[tenfurlongs]

That's great stuff Peter!

"The Marshfield races had history and personality. Photo-finish prints, fastened to a wire, were sent past the heads of bettors from the top of the grandstand to the steward’s stand on the opposite side of the track. The jockeys and the trainers at Marshfield were either youngsters on their way up or veterans on their way down. After a race, the jockeys had to walk through a crowd of race fans who critiqued their ride in colorful language."

Also, the name of the writer is thoroughly old-school New England blue-blood: Wheeler Cowperthwaite.

TW

[Badactor]

love the black & white photographs... exceptional!

[turffan]

Went to Northampton Fair and Great Barrington many times in my yute. Fun watching races in the “bullrings”.

[propro]

There was nothing better than the Three County Fair at Northampton. 10 days annually of the best money making opportunities I'd ever have at a racetrack. I stayed in the area and saw every race. It was a working vacation for me. You had to hope for no rain. The track was clay and couldn't take much water before it turned into a slippery mess that they couldn't run on. The runners from Suffolk, Rockingham ruled, but any shippers from CT, Pha and Mth needed attention. Some of the FL horses did okay.

5 digit win and exacta and eventually trifecta pools. $2.20 minimum payouts back then in Mass...same days as when Cigar had a minus show pool of about a million dollars at Suffolk in the Mass Cap. The early Daily Double was the biggest pool of the day. Most of the people making bets were going to the fair with their kids and drifted over to the track area and simply had the old school program with the names and numbers. Even if you had a Form, you saw fair racing lines with just a final time. The horses always ran 2-4 times in the 10 day meet, so I learned early on to clock the races. Internal splits and trip notes were everything. I had them. I knew when the final posted times were wrong. There were meets where you could get 2-1 on a horse that would have been 2/5 had the posted information been correct. 2-1 shots that were two seconds faster for a half mile than the 4/5 favorite that they thought ran two seconds faster the same day they raced a few days ago. He wasn't....the final posted time was just wrong and I had my own fractions. Sausage and peppers and a bucket of the best fries anywhere being shared with the guys I met up there and sat with every year.

It was a different time and place in my life and something I couldn't do now with a family, but I miss it every year. Still hoping for Great Barrington....

[1hooper]

You just lit up a whole bunch of memories.
Thanks.

[propro]

Hoop, I thought of you and your dad when I wrote that. Always loved talking with him about the fairs when he made the trip with you and the blanket to Saratoga. As the underrated singer/songwriter Michael Stanley sang..."all you get to keep are the memories...you gotta make the good ones last". Talking fairs with your dad was one of the good ones. :-)

[turffan]

Impressive propro. Even though I grew up just over the mountains, I mainly went to the Northampton Fair when I was in grad school at UMass nearby. Luckily the meet was early enough in the semester that it didn’t interfere with classes. I liked watching the races from the infield. It gave a very up close and personal perspective of the intensity of racing. As I recall, I did OK but never thought of doing the things that you did to gain an advantage. If only...

[1hooper]

As the underrated singer/songwriter Michael Stanley sang..."all you get to keep are the memories...you gotta make the good ones last". Talking fairs with your dad was one of the good ones. :-)

Thanks Pro. Miss him all the time but never more than during the Saratoga meet.