Not quite accurate! For years harness racing ‘thrived’ on “crap” fields—2500 claimers, 3000 claimers, 4000 claimers, very bad Nw/1, Nw/2, Nw 1000/l5 etc. We all do want we want with our money. Whether it is horses, gambling, sex ( male/female), and so many other good things.
Has The Meadowlands gone downhill over the last 30 years? It sure had but be thankful it’s still here. Many of these horses are here is because they need a bigger track to race on and the purse money is still better than most other tracks in North America today.
I agree. Harness racing was always a sport where cheaper horses raced during the week and the better ones raced on the weekend. It is funny reading the many posts where trainers and owners loved the 60s, 70s and 80s racing at all the upstate NY, Chicago, PA and Delaware tracks. Most of the racing was cheap claimers, young neophytes and many other slower horses. Fast forward to today and now we have Ploppers belly aching about all the crappy horses. Pretty crazy stuff.
