Who amongst us hasn’t spent the Christmas holidays surrounded by several hundred other degenerates, pissing away our wages, inheritences and cash swiped from girlfriends’ purses at that mecca of winter horse racing, Aqueduct?
Contrary to a report in yesterday’s Newsday, the track’s delightful ambience — kind of like a pre-production line White Castle, only not as crowded — will remain intact for the indefinite future according to the NY Post’s Ed Fountaine.
Don’t pack your suitcase yet. Men will walk on the moon again before the New York Racing Association stops running at Aqueduct and moves winter racing to Belmont Park, if ever.
Speaking at Saratoga on Tuesday, NYRA president Charles Hayward was quoted as saying the Big A, which is expected to open a long-delayed video-lottery casino by the end of 2006, eventually might become a full-time gaming facility, with racing conducted year-round at Belmont except for the summer stand at the Old Spa.
“You don’t need two tracks,” Hayward told The Saratogian. “Give us a 10-year lease at Aqueduct. By the end of 10 years, we’ll figure out what to do to run at Belmont.”