My 1st Local Track to Host Big Stake

Fairmount Park, a bottom feeding racing emporium in southern Illinois and across the Mississippi river from St. Louis, Missouri, is planning to host a quarter million dollar stakes event for three year olds this summer.

The track was my stomping ground while I was in high school and where I first really began to foster a love for the game. There wasn't much for a 16 year old to do in my hometown of St. Charles, Missouri. I couldn't get into bars and the pool hall could wear on you or just become too rowdy, but the track always welcomed me. At the time, Illinois had the lowest age requirement to make legal parimutuel wagers, set at age 17. No teller ever asked me for ID, though. Illinois was also one of the first states to embrace simulcast wagering. Before I left Missouri, I remember being at Fairmount watching Bay Meadows feeds thinking, "Wow, that's real racing. I want to see that live some time."

I hope the track is able to attract a triple crown participant or big name and draw in some local crowds. Even when racing was a little more popular in the days when I went to Fairmount, they weren't getting many butts in the seats over there. And, when I was in Missouri for a few months in 2002, under rather unpleasant circumstances, it seemed 90% of folks didn't even know there was a race track in the area. Nonetheless, that track was in many ways my salvation and helped me keep my sanity.