Where do the horses who race at Freehold, the Meadowlands, & Yonkers board/train?

[lauren]

Where do the horses who race at Freehold, the Meadowlands, & Yonkers board/train?

I haven't been a groom for a very long time. I know some raceways have gotten rid of their stabling in more recent times & only have the horses ship in. :(

Is Showplace Farms closing going to make things even more difficult?

What do you all think of the loss of some of the raceway stabling?

Thanks!

[nomireatras]

There are quite a few training centers with good tracks and nice barns especially in New Jersey, although they are becoming less as time goes on. One of the biggest, if not THE biggest cost to a racetrack is maintaining a barn area. From huge insurance costs to maintenance on the barns and keeping the racing surface in good condition after numerous horses train on it daily plus the huge problem of what to do with the tons of manure and bedding generated each day, it is a massive undertaking and with today's diminishing handles, one that many tracks cannot afford. The manure problem is a real issue. Back in the day, most racetracks had train tracks adjacent to them and the manure got hauled away to farms that used it for fertilizer but now land is not fertilized with horse manure so what to do with it is a problem. The mushroom farmers used to take it but only if the horse had been bedded on straw which is costly to the horsemen. There is no one good answer and that is why those tracks that still have barn areas are charging the horsemen to use those facilities. Losing Showplace will place an additional burden on the horsemen to find acceptable stabling in the area.

[lauren]

Thanks again, so much, Nom! You are most knowledgeable and insightful!