http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/1...ry/459868.html
MAYS LANDING - On Wednesday afternoon, the Atlantic City Race Course was quiet. Bettors stood in the race book studying sheets. Others stood alone, peeking from their notes and the television screen in the main hall.
Soon, the ACRC will be overrun with thousands of people enjoying the small bit of live racing they get every year at the racecourse.
Today brings the first of this year's six-day schedule with the first post at 3:30 p.m., for the one-mile all-turf track.
The other dates are tomorrow, April 23, 24, 30 and May 1.
There are six races each day except May 1. There will be seven that day, including the $50,000 Tony Gatto Big Dream Stakes, the lone stakes event of the meeting.
Admission and parking are free. Gates open at 11 a.m.Food and beverage sale during the six-day meet will benefit Oakcrest High School's marching band.
"It gets packed in here," said Shirley Cortese, 69, a regular at the racecourse. "There are people everywhere. You get, like, 50,000 kids."
Surely, there won't be that many children, but it could feel that way after dealing with the calmer atmosphere that surrounds the racecourse on a normal day. The ACRC is open throughout the year for simulcast races.
On those days, Cortese and her husband, Ronald, chat with other regulars. They bring snacks and small foods before heading out for dinner once their nightly session is over. But come this afternoon, their "family" - as Shirley calls the regulars - will host thousands of guests.
"It's definitely a different atmosphere," she said. "You get a lot of action and there is lots of stuff for other people to do."
This year's races will be simulcast for the first time since 1997, which promotes the course. But one of the biggest influences with the simulcast comes with betting.
With more bets coming from across the country, there will be less drastic changes to odds.
But local racing aficionados think about more than the effects of simulcasting.
Lou Paludi is another regular to the ACRC and calls himself a self-handicapper. Live racing gives him more information to determine his picks.
He will be with the pack of fans checking out the horses before the race, but Paludi will do more than take in the beauty of the thoroughbreds.
"I'll look at how they're acting," Paludi said. "More of the psychology of them. I'll check out the wraps on their legs. See how young there are. It will be a little different."
While Paludi looks for information for his handicaps, hundreds of others watch the horses for other reasons. Many enjoy the nature of the animals.
Fans tend to watch the animals from the time they first get on the campus to when they are saddled. They follow as the horses go through the tunnel to the course.
"We call it the wave," ACRC president Maureen Gallagher Bugdon said. "There are thousands of people who just watch the horses and they follow them the entire way. It's great to have them all here."
There was talk that the track could shut down at the end of 2008 if owner Greenwood Racing couldn't get state regulators to agree to the six-day schedule. The New Jersey Racing Commission pushed for 20 days but relented when racecourse officials agreed to stop asking for part of $90 million pot of casino money intended for New Jersey horse racing purses through 2010.
ACRC wasn't part of the agreement when the deal was first reached. The downtrodden economy had a hand in the decision as well.
However, officials at ACRC are thrilled to display the facilities and hope to have live racing for many years.
"We've been doing this for 60 years," Gallagher Bugdon said. "We plan on doing this for 60 more."
MAYS LANDING - On Wednesday afternoon, the Atlantic City Race Course was quiet. Bettors stood in the race book studying sheets. Others stood alone, peeking from their notes and the television screen in the main hall.
Soon, the ACRC will be overrun with thousands of people enjoying the small bit of live racing they get every year at the racecourse.
Today brings the first of this year's six-day schedule with the first post at 3:30 p.m., for the one-mile all-turf track.
The other dates are tomorrow, April 23, 24, 30 and May 1.
There are six races each day except May 1. There will be seven that day, including the $50,000 Tony Gatto Big Dream Stakes, the lone stakes event of the meeting.
Admission and parking are free. Gates open at 11 a.m.Food and beverage sale during the six-day meet will benefit Oakcrest High School's marching band.
"It gets packed in here," said Shirley Cortese, 69, a regular at the racecourse. "There are people everywhere. You get, like, 50,000 kids."
Surely, there won't be that many children, but it could feel that way after dealing with the calmer atmosphere that surrounds the racecourse on a normal day. The ACRC is open throughout the year for simulcast races.
On those days, Cortese and her husband, Ronald, chat with other regulars. They bring snacks and small foods before heading out for dinner once their nightly session is over. But come this afternoon, their "family" - as Shirley calls the regulars - will host thousands of guests.
"It's definitely a different atmosphere," she said. "You get a lot of action and there is lots of stuff for other people to do."
This year's races will be simulcast for the first time since 1997, which promotes the course. But one of the biggest influences with the simulcast comes with betting.
With more bets coming from across the country, there will be less drastic changes to odds.
But local racing aficionados think about more than the effects of simulcasting.
Lou Paludi is another regular to the ACRC and calls himself a self-handicapper. Live racing gives him more information to determine his picks.
He will be with the pack of fans checking out the horses before the race, but Paludi will do more than take in the beauty of the thoroughbreds.
"I'll look at how they're acting," Paludi said. "More of the psychology of them. I'll check out the wraps on their legs. See how young there are. It will be a little different."
While Paludi looks for information for his handicaps, hundreds of others watch the horses for other reasons. Many enjoy the nature of the animals.
Fans tend to watch the animals from the time they first get on the campus to when they are saddled. They follow as the horses go through the tunnel to the course.
"We call it the wave," ACRC president Maureen Gallagher Bugdon said. "There are thousands of people who just watch the horses and they follow them the entire way. It's great to have them all here."
There was talk that the track could shut down at the end of 2008 if owner Greenwood Racing couldn't get state regulators to agree to the six-day schedule. The New Jersey Racing Commission pushed for 20 days but relented when racecourse officials agreed to stop asking for part of $90 million pot of casino money intended for New Jersey horse racing purses through 2010.
ACRC wasn't part of the agreement when the deal was first reached. The downtrodden economy had a hand in the decision as well.
However, officials at ACRC are thrilled to display the facilities and hope to have live racing for many years.
"We've been doing this for 60 years," Gallagher Bugdon said. "We plan on doing this for 60 more."
