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General Category => Harness Racing => Topic started by: theokodjak26 on September 10, 2023, 06:52:54 AM
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In memory of when the Int’l Trot was at Roosevelt Raceway here are a few facts that may blow the minds of younger Ploppers:
The nightly highest avg handle was in 1964 $2,055,312
The largest one night handle was in 1970 $3,118,346….On a December night
The highest avg attendance was in 1964 26,042
The largest one night attendance was in 1962 53,279…Int’l Night
From 1957 thru 1971 the avg nightly attendance was between 20,000 and 26,000
Maybe the most famous Int’l Trot took place on Aug 23,1969 when the great French mare champion Une de Mai wore down the great Nevele Pride before 39,052 screaming fans.
Finally a pretty difficult trivia question: In 1986, who was their leading driver? Don’t cheat by looking this up. All answers are welcome 🤗
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In memory of when the Int’l Trot was at Roosevelt Raceway here are a few facts that may blow the minds of younger Ploppers:
The nightly highest avg handle was in 1964 $2,055,312
The largest one night handle was in 1970 $3,118,346….On a December night
The highest avg attendance was in 1964 26,042
The largest one night attendance was in 1962 53,279…Int’l Night
From 1957 thru 1971 the avg nightly attendance was between 20,000 and 26,000
Maybe the most famous Int’l Trot took place on Aug 23,1969 when the great French mare champion Une de Mai wore down the great Nevele Pride before 39,052 screaming fans.
Finally a pretty difficult trivia question: In 1986, who was their leading driver? Don’t cheat by looking this up. All answers are welcome 🤗
I'll take a stab at it, Rejean? I know Rejean won the last race they ran in 1988.
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I will guess Rajean, as well.
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I brought up some 1986 replays.
I will guess Mike LaChance or Buddy Gilmour.
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I will wait to see if anyone takes a shot at my trivia question but no here has the correct answer. This isn’t called trivia for nothing😀
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In memory of when the Int’l Trot was at Roosevelt Raceway here are a few facts that may blow the minds of younger Ploppers:
The nightly highest avg handle was in 1964 $2,055,312
The largest one night handle was in 1970 $3,118,346….On a December night
The highest avg attendance was in 1964 26,042
The largest one night attendance was in 1962 53,279…Int’l Night
From 1957 thru 1971 the avg nightly attendance was between 20,000 and 26,000
Maybe the most famous Int’l Trot took place on Aug 23,1969 when the great French mare champion Une de Mai wore down the great Nevele Pride before 39,052 screaming fans.
Finally a pretty difficult trivia question: In 1986, who was their leading driver? Don’t cheat by looking this up. All answers are welcome 🤗
Very cool stuff. What was the feature event for the highest night of attendance?
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Very cool stuff. What was the feature event for the highest night of attendance?
I raced a horse at RR on their final night. Foggy, blustery evening. Think it was in March.
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Very cool stuff. What was the feature event for the highest night of attendance?
The highest attendance night was the night of the Int’l Trot in 1962. What is a mystery, that I am trying to solve, is why the night with the biggest handle was a seemingly no big deal on a December evening 1970.
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If anyone is interested 3 people wrote a big called Roosevelt Raceway Where It All Began. The 3 authors are Victoria Howard, Freddie Hudson and Billy Haughton, published by Tate Publishing. The book is full of RR history, mini bios, big events and plenty of stats from 1940 to its end. It is available from Amazon Books for $16.24. It was originally published in hardcover in 2014 which is interesting since the Billy Haughton we knew passed in 1986. This is a wonderful book for fans.
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If anyone is interested 3 people wrote a big called Roosevelt Raceway Where It All Began. The 3 authors are Victoria Howard, Freddie Hudson and Billy Haughton, published by Tate Publishing. The book is full of RR history, mini bios, big events and plenty of stats from 1940 to its end. It is available from Amazon Books for $16.24. It was originally published in hardcover in 2014 which is interesting since the Billy Haughton we knew passed in 1986. This is a wonderful book for fans.
I will wait to see if anyone takes a shot at my trivia question but no here has the correct answer. This isn’t called trivia for nothing😀
Freddie has another book due out very soon.
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I will guess Rajean, as well.
Knew Rejean well. Some fast facts.
Got the ball rolling when he claimed Dark Gold for 10k for 4 partners and nearly turned him into an Open pacer.
Was the kingpin of race fixing for many years at RR and YR through his many minions and satellite barns such as Gerry Sarama, the McCardles, Perry Steinkohl, Jocelyn Tremblay, etc. The goal was 30k a night, they split at gam Wah and Buddy's bagman carried the loot. Even George Hadges was in on the act.
Once owned a home in Sands Point next to the financier Meshulum Riklis
Overheard him tell Donald Dancer he would only divorce Wendy when he had a million in cash buried in bottles in his lawn
Lost a fortune fighting YR ownership after being barred for life and ended up selling real estate in Bronxville NY
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Knew Rejean well. Some fast facts.
Got the ball rolling when he claimed Dark Gold for 10k for 4 partners and nearly turned him into an Open pacer.
Was the kingpin of race fixing for many years at RR and YR through his many minions and satellite barns such as Gerry Sarama, the McCardles, Perry Steinkohl, Jocelyn Tremblay, etc. The goal was 30k a night, they split at gam Wah and Buddy's bagman carried the loot. Even George Hadges was in on the act.
Once owned a home in Sands Point next to the financier Meshulum Riklis
Overheard him tell Donald Dancer he would only divorce Wendy when he had a million in cash buried in bottles in his lawn
Lost a fortune fighting YR ownership after being barred for life and ended up selling real estate in Bronxville NY
I think Wendy did pretty well for herself in her post divorce life
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Good for her. Trash Mel Smorra, Rejean and Jon Paton. Could 3 mean be any more different on every level? And, who know who else. Just chased money..
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Again a thread has been put up on this part of the forum when just a few hours ago I started a thread in nostalgia about Roosevelt and why it closed. Here it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHpKs2W7kIY
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Bill Haughton Jr. was the co author
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leading driver in 86, would have said lachance , but how about Sonny Patterson, Jr?
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Ok fellow RR fans..according to this book and another Internet site Leo Bauer was the RR leading driver in 1986. Hard to believe but it looks to be true.
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Leo Bauer - that's impossible. I raced there every night in those days - no way he was leading driver at either meet at RR something wrong with that info. Top 3 dashes won in 86 had to be Lachance, carmine, herve in some order
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I find that also hard to believe. My memory is shaky at times but I attended at least 75 percent of the races at Roosevelt whether in person or at Teletrack that year and I can barely even remember that name as a driver at all much less a leading one. What was the internet source you saw that on?
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Leo raced in maybe half the races per night. Main claim to fame wasw winning the race that created the scandal that got l;achance thrown out, but that was at YR anyway. i knew Leo in New England decent driver. shifty character
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Gary Mosher
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Gary Mosher won back to back races for me with two different horses upon arriving from monticello literally within his first 2 weeks at YR in 85 anyway as we are going up the ramp with one of them shooting for 3 straight and I have the rail, Gary turns to me as if he some kind of "kingpin" and says, "Don't expect much tonight, our win percentage is getting too high" Glued to the rail, finished 4th. Put the lines on the hook and walked away. I never put him down again.
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Ok. The book ranked the drivers by their UDRS so I should have rephrased the trivia question. However in 1986 Bauer had 415 drives. Wins 77, Place 88, Show 104. UDRS .387. Not too shabby against that driving colony. Sorry for getting fellow Ploppers so excited 11.wp
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lolol great numbers yes he did make a brief splash he was good against the great New England colonies of the 70s/early 80s Foxboro Rokinhgham
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That is some set of balls Gary Mosher had to tell Fug that he was basically going to stiff his horse. Especially having the rail at YR a huge advantage. As an ex-owner I too would hear crazy stuff in the dungeon they call a paddock at YR. We owned a decent horse named Elected, a steady B-1 B-2 sort. He was coming back from a minor throat issue but had the rail. Our trainer for Elected was the once excellent Vinny Aurigemma. I liked Vinny and never knew of all his issues until much later. Anyway Mike LaChance was Vinny’s go to driver. In the dungeon I asked Vinny what Mike was going to do and Vinny told me Mike would take it easy and wait for a healthier day so to speak. My horse goes from 6-1 down to 6/5 in the last 2 clicks. The gate opens and the horse is shot out of a canon, parking any horse that came near him in Westchester County. At the top of the stretch my horse goes to sleep and finishes 6th. I was so po’d I sent the horse to a NJ for a rest and a new trainer Anahid Avakian. She treated Elected like her baby, entered him at Freehold where with Harold Kelly won 3 races in a row in their highest conditions. Harold told me driving Elected was like driving a Cadillac. He was a very nice man. One of many stories we all experienced as owners and trainers.
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That is some set of balls Gary Mosher had to tell Fug that he was basically going to stiff his horse. Especially having the rail at YR a huge advantage. As an ex-owner I too would hear crazy stuff in the dungeon they call a paddock at YR. We owned a decent horse named Elected, a steady B-1 B-2 sort. He was coming back from a minor throat issue but had the rail. Our trainer for Elected was the once excellent Vinny Aurigemma. I liked Vinny and never knew of all his issues until much later. Anyway Mike LaChance was Vinny’s go to driver. In the dungeon I asked Vinny what Mike was going to do and Vinny told me Mike would take it easy and wait for a healthier day so to speak. My horse goes from 6-1 down to 6/5 in the last 2 clicks. The gate opens and the horse is shot out of a canon, parking any horse that came near him in Westchester County. At the top of the stretch my horse goes to sleep and finishes 6th. I was so po’d I sent the horse to a NJ for a rest and a new trainer Anahid Avakian. She treated Elected like her baby, entered him at Freehold where with Harold Kelly won 3 races in a row in their highest conditions. Harold told me driving Elected was like driving a Cadillac. He was a very nice man. One of many stories we all experienced as owners and trainers.
I remember elected - very nice horse. i also remember Anahid, her Dad was a doctor, she was a former flight attendant.She had a small ranch in North Salem Ny She was involved in a relationship with Dr. Brian McNamara- the vet
Have you noticed all you have ro do is mention a name and Fuguzzi has a true anecdote
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So u have Anahid Avakian confused with someone else. First her dad was George Avakian. He was a NYC record producer for talented people like Johnny Mathis. Her mother was an internationally known cellist who played in all the big concert halls. Anahid had a triple major at the University of Michigan and none of these degrees had anything to do with harness racing. She met a Michigan trainer, well known, whose name escapes me right now. She fell in love with horses and training. She had some nice raceway stock from a great group of owners that included her dad. She trained I Marilyn,with absolutely no breeding, won a lot of money. In her retirement her second foal was Presidential Ball. Go figure? So between I Marilyn, Elected and another mare, Rat-A-Tat-Tat, she did very well. Then she had a bad training accident and that ended her training career. A great lady and family.
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LOLOL Was driving home and realized I was thinking of Hendrika Visser. I apologize to all Hendrika had the farm in N. Salem and was involved with Dr. McNamara and was a flight attendant. I do remember Anahid and yes her dad was George. IMarylin was a nice mare.
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Rejean liked to party after the races at a bar/club called Riddles. Paul Lukin from Sports Eye used to hang out with that crew.
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I remember Paul Lukin and the club. I didn;t dare go in there.. LOL
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Jordan Rubin told a funny Rejean story, how RD was supposed to be no better than 2nd in the number, so he threw his whip away in deep stretch to avoid winning the race.
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I remember when Lachance first came to RR and Yonkers the drivers ran him all over the track and wouldn't work with him. He had to leave went to Liberty Bell Brandywine Maybe some other track. Then he came back to NY with a power house stable and The drivers decided to work with him and not against him so he became one of them. Eddie Cobb had a power house stable but they wouldn't work with him. I liked him he took a lot of money out of the windows too.
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Two great quotes from some time ago.....boys...re member you don't have to win to win.....another one....anyone can win a race but when you bet yourself for third and get third then your good....i wont mention names but not here with us anymore
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It's easier to loose a race than win one.
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Two great quotes from some time ago.....boys...re member you don't have to win to win.....another one....anyone can win a race but when you bet yourself for third and get third then your good....i wont mention names but not here with us anymore
Herve and or Frank popfinger
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Jordan Rubin told a funny Rejean story, how RD was supposed to be no better than 2nd in the number, so he threw his whip away in deep stretch to avoid winning the race.
I did paddocks for Jordan Rubin and I believe that story is just that, a story.
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I remember when Lachance first came to RR and Yonkers the drivers ran him all over the track and wouldn't work with him. He had to leave went to Liberty Bell Brandywine Maybe some other track. Then he came back to NY with a power house stable and The drivers decided to work with him and not against him so he became one of them. Eddie Cobb had a power house stable but they wouldn't work with him. I liked him he took a lot of money out of the windows too.
Lachances first night on his second try in NY was in 1981. he was listed to drive in every single race. He had 3 from his barn in. It was a Monday. I still have the pink Sports Eye from the the Sunday. Michel was in every single race. 2 from his barn won. The first went wire to wire from the 6 hole. I think its name was Scout Hanover. Anyway, he won 3 that night.
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in my opnion and most others Mike was the best horsemen of all drivers by far... and your correct
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Norman Dauplaise was quit a horseman too.
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in my opnion and most others Mike was the best horsemen of all drivers by far... and your correct
Mike Lavalee who had trained for Herve was the listed trainer for M. Lachance Stable in those day. Several years later after Coco Cormier quit after gettingin trouble many times., Lavalee and Cormier ended up selling hay and grain at YR after RR closed for good. Always thought it was sad to see the 2 of them around 60 years old humping hay and grain into barns off a truck
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Never met Lavalee but met Coccoin the early seventies.
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I did paddocks for Jordan Rubin and I believe that story is just that, a story.
Do you doubt that he told the story, or doubt that it actually happened? Because we were all sitting in a box at Saratoga Harness with him.
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Do you doubt that he told the story, or doubt that it actually happened? Because we were all sitting in a box at Saratoga Harness with him.
He absolutely told the story, not doubting you. I just doubt the incident happened where RD tossed a whip away to keep from winning. jordan was definitely larger than life and could tell a story or 2. Hear him a mile away.
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in my opnion and most others Mike was the best horsemen of all drivers by far... and your correct
Teddy Wing was sharp. Trained a powerful table for Larry "Knish" Kadish.
Also helped Vinny (RIP) with Skip By Night.
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Ok I was told a story long ago that I have no direct knowledge if it is true, but perhaps someone knows. Mike LaChance had become the kingpin of YR and RR. At this time a new and talented Rejean D comes along and starts winning a bit. Supposedly Mike had a friendly chat with RD to cool it somewhat and not to get too greedy. Then one night RD won a bunch of races and Mike was pissed. Supposedly Mike found him late in their parking lot and kicked the crap out of RD. That ended that. I heard this story too many times but still wonder if it was true. Personally I always had great respect for Mike’s talent and toughness. Any thoughts?
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Ok I was told a story long ago that I have no direct knowledge if it is true, but perhaps someone knows. Mike LaChance had become the kingpin of YR and RR. At this time a new and talented Rejean D comes along and starts winning a bit. Supposedly Mike had a friendly chat with RD to cool it somewhat and not to get too greedy. Then one night RD won a bunch of races and Mike was pissed. Supposedly Mike found him late in their parking lot and kicked the crap out of RD. That ended that. I heard this story too many times but still wonder if it was true. Personally I always had great respect for Mike’s talent and toughness. Any thoughts?
Well the timeline works. Lachance arrived in 81 and by 83 / 84 he clearly the top driver and in charge. Rejean emerged around 83 and within a year or 2 was really humming along. As for a fight, it's possible i guess and I have to say, having seem them both dressed and undressed, I would have to bet on Lachance in that match up. I have never heard anything like that story personally. I do know this though. During the time you are talking about Rejean Daigneault was clearly in charge of the crew, the"inner circle" drivers fixing the races. The group using Buddy's "bagma"n that was looking to split 30k per night / basically a million a month. Rejean had many minions, satelite barns and friends on the racetrack. All kinds of people on different levels. Interestingly, as hard as it may seem to believe, Lachance really didn't seem to be part of that group.
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This thread reminds very much of the original "Chicago Barn To Wire". The first forum I ever read and posted on.
There were many triva threads like this one that I enjoyed.
Difference is it was mainly about Chicago racing.
Too many good people ( Donna Lee, Amy Hollar, Terry Hunt,etc) made the mistake of posting under their real names.
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ooops