Green Mountain fire and Great Barrington is toast....

[propro]

I did a search tonight to see if there were any plans yet for the shuttered Atlantic City Race Course. There aren't. Found a recent article from Bill Finley that also mentioned that Green Mountain burned last September in a "suspicious" fire (there's no possible way it spontaneously combusted). While I never saw throughbred or harness racing at Green Mountain, they were the reason that I never saw the 9th race at Saratoga in the 80s. I'd leave after the 8th to get to GrM for first post of their greyhound card.



Looks like the Barrington project is toast. From what I've read on other related articles, the town seems a bit perplexed why Suffolk dropped their plans when the town seemed to make it clear they didn't want racing there and was going to fight it all the way. In the day and age where the great tracks of our past are long gone, this was one that maybe, just maybe could have made a comeback. There was truly nothing like a day at a Massachusetts half miler.  RIP GBF.



www.berkshireeagle.com/news/local/suffolk-downs-drops-great-barrington-plan-town-eyes-fairgrounds-purchase/article_d5bd7e38-6716-11eb-9c9c-c76fdc7bea31.html

[turffan]

I grew up near Green Mountain so it was the home track of my youth. We would do Saratoga, Green Mountain thoroughbred double headers. We had to stop at GM because it was on the way home. After it closed there were attempts to re-open it but the plans never came to fruition. They tried to do various things with the property later ( concerts, flea markets). Any fire was beyond suspicious. It really was a nice facility in its day.

We did get to GB a few times.

[eye123]

[turffan]

I got quite a few chuckles listening to how much this guy got totally wrong about the track.

[eye123]

I've never been there but you could tell this guy was improvising as he went along. Some really antiquated machines left behind.(That telephone switchboard was something out of the roaring 20's) If anything the scenery while watching the races there must have been spectacular. To many racing venues of the past now gone. New era, easy to miss what we've lost.

[quickcall]

I expect that the GM grandstand will be torn down soon. Residents in the area are calling for it to be demolished. There are quite a few young people in the area that use the grounds for all kinds of recreation, including exploration of the facility, I would think.

Turffan, where did you grow up? I’m from Bennington, as was the late, great, hezethebest!!

[turffan]

I grew up in Adams, MA. My mother was from Bennington and I had a lot of family there.

[jacckk8]

I actually grew up in Troy, NY.. about 30minutes from the track. I remember going there on Sunday afternoons with my dad. He loved that track. It was our alternative when Saratoga wasn’t open. Easy people.. laid back.. fun track.

I even remember one jockey. Ken Pruden. My dad always used him


Also.. correct me if I am wrong at the time GM had the 3rd longest stretch in the country...I think it was longer than Saratoga!

That was the first time I ever heard about “fixed” races .. not sure.. but small group of jocks needing to make a buck.. or so my dad said. Seems like this was the early 70’s?
Fun memories! Thanks

[Badactor]

Feb 20, 2021 21:20:02 GMT -5 eye123 said:

I felt like Howard Carter watching the video...
"Wonderful things." Great find. Excellent thread!

[1hooper]

A good Green Mountain story. www.horseracing-tracks.com/tracks/nos/gm.html

[turffan]

Feb 23, 2021 7:22:27 GMT -5 jacckk8 said:

I actually grew up in Troy, NY.. about 30minutes from the track. I remember going there on Sunday afternoons with my dad. He loved that track. It was our alternative when Saratoga wasn’t open. Easy people.. laid back.. fun track.

I even remember one jockey. Ken Pruden. My dad always used him


Also.. correct me if I am wrong at the time GM had the 3rd longest stretch in the country...I think it was longer than Saratoga!

That was the first time I ever heard about “fixed” races .. not sure.. but small group of jocks needing to make a buck.. or so my dad said. Seems like this was the early 70’s?
Fun memories! Thanks

Pruden was always among the leading jockeys there.

Regarding “fixed” races, it is only hearsay of course, but a friend of mine was a nephew of a trainer there so he got to be an outrider once in awhile. He said that one night he was at the top of the stretch and heard the jockey on the lead horse say “Will you guys hurry up. I can’t hold this horse back much longer.”  Hearsay of course.

[propro]

In the years after GM closed, I drove past it any chance I could. Leaving from NJ, whether it was a stop over in Bennington before going to Saratoga or just going past there to see the fall foliage in VT, I enjoyed stopping by the old gem. Last couple of times I was there with the last time being probably 4-5 years ago, I really wanted to take my car for a lap around the now grassy main course, but never did it. Some local guys were flying remote controlled airplanes there. The inside through the windows looked like the videos and it was pretty clear there was no way this place would ever open again.

I saw every race of the greyhound card the last year they ran. Kept trip notes and made a bundle there...which was a lot considering the $600-$1000 pools. Too many times to count where I had the only tickets on an exotic bet. Talked to lots of old timers that loved to talk about the thoroughbreds and how many people were there. Love the old memories. :-)

[bitowisdom]

Wow, Green Mountain! Whole ton of memories. Does anyone recall the days of the Thoroughbreds there? I recall a St Patrick's Day when the lead pony in the post parades was a roan dyed GREEN. There was actually a pretty decent attendance in those days........They followed up with harness and then the place went to the dogs...Literally!! Use to drive from Albany through Troy. That ride was always a trip in itself. What an awful road. Ahh, the fun we had there. As for the young fellow with his friend and the camera? Don't you think the lad would have researched the venue before doing a 30 minute walk through. Poor kids didn't have a clue!!! A bit of an in depth note on Great Barrington. Was there a couple times near it's end of days. If ever a racing venue needed to be shut down, this was one of them. What a crime to even run some of those poor animals. $5 to win and place on a horse there would topple 25-1 odds to 2-1 in a heartbeat. The jockeys where brought out of retirement for this meet, and if one of them was under 60, WELL, he did not have skills, to be nice about it. I tip my hat to anyone who stayed clear of reviving this toilet. Now, with all due respect, The Great Barrinton Fair had it heyday back in the latter half of the 1800's and from 1940 to a certain later time in the 50'or 60's had a good reason for existing. Neglect and mismanagement of the whole operation was headed for doom in the late 80's and the freshening and waste of money in the mid 90's to try and get it going again was for all intent and purpose, a total joke...JMHO............GEE, will we ever be able to stand in the back yard at The Spa ever again....How about it Mr Adolf Cuomo? Dr Fraudci, can you give us a hint as to when the living can live again? The best to all here on UIC.

[quickcall]

Green Mountain Park in it's Heyday.