Evening star., 1951-03-14

/ ~ Z
Grantland Rice. viewed one day
not so long ago and asked to name
our favorite race track the name
Sunshine Park suddenly popped
out.
This was a completely subcon.
sclouS answer. 1t was never clear
ly thought out. Santa Anita, Bel
mont, Hollywood and others dC
from So million to $2.5 million al
the windows on big days. They
are magnificent, they are beauti.
full. they have the best horses.
Sunshine Park, at Oldsmar, Fla
does a mutuel job of 100000 o.
up to $130,000 a day. Its attend
ance is from 1000 to 1000. No CT
tations, no Hill Princes, no Coal
towns, no Derby choices ever rur
at Sunshine Park.
It is a track set about an equa'
distance from st. Petersburg anC
Tampa, in a fiat country studded
with palmettoS. It has a small
lake, known as the Dan Parker
Lake. because it is supposed to be
surrounded by rattlesnakes. Park
er and I have explored this lake
without meeting one rattlesnake
Only protective king snakes.
Hialeah Much More Beautiful.
The scenery doesn't approach
the Sierra Madres of Santa Anita
nor the more beautiful, more in.
innate charm Of Hialeah. I have
never seen a prettier race track
than Hialeah, with its spread o1
bloom and blossom, plus its offer
ing of f1amingoeS. Judged simply
from the standpoint of beauty
Hialeah is the top track. Garden
State, for all the comforts, comes
second. There is also a beauty
in rural simplicity. Or in any
simplicity
It is only natural that the more
modern tracks have it all over
such courses as Jamaica anc
Aqueduct, which are 20 to sc
years behind the times, with nc
chance to improve their crowded
handicaps on big days.
So it happens that Sunshine
Park became a sudden symbol
when I was asked to name my
favorite track.
Crowded at Big Tracks.
I had been crowded, jostled
showed around, stepped on
pushed. rushed. etc, so often at
these big tracks on big days that
even the joys of picking winner
now and then had begun to pail.
I had seen so many racing follow
ers at so many tracks forced to
stand in serried masses. COM
pletely ignored by track owners
that at times 1 had honestly
sickened of the whole game.
Call them suckers" :" Never
giva a sucker break" Yet these
people love racing. To my mind
they are just as important as the
owners of famous stables. MOI
financially. But as human beings
who happen to love the same
game.
I've watched the punishment
they have had to take from Lo
Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago
Kentucky, Florida, Maryland, New
England, on into New York-anc
at times the beating the loWl7
racing fan took was brutal.
I am not aSsailing or verbally
assaulting track owners. Sucf
men as George Widener, Al Van
derbilt, Doc Strub of Santa Anita
Mori and Donovan, and SO man,
others probably do the best the.
can. I think Garden State is wei
in advance of the others. That
my guess. But they don't taxi
care of the average guy-the mar
who makes racing, the man wht
takes the beating, the So and S;
player. I have seen too man!
crowded racing days where tur.
clubs were half filled, every otheI
location packed.
No Jam at Sunshine.
But at Sunshine Park there il
no such croWding. The horse
are as intimate as my friends. M
one ever breathes down my necl
or steps on my feet or shoves MT
around. l am an Independent
individual. I am closer to th'
horses than I am to the mutue
windows. They run by me anc
their hair settles over my coat.
AS far as I know, this is al
angle of racing that only Da1
Parker and I have hit upon. Dal
is the only one who has supported
me in this regard I have for Sun
shine Park. Here they give the S.
bettors and the buns the sam
break they give the Wideners
Vanderbilts and Whitneys. Blu
none of these ever come here
which is all right with Sunshin
Park.
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