Quote:
Originally Posted by cj
I've been to Laurel around 1000 times and couldn't tell you a thing about the neighborhood.
I've been to Pimlico about 500 times and never had a single issue with the neighborhood, and I often took the subway then the bus then walked a few blocks. The neighborhood thing is much ado about nothing. Is there a bunch of crimes against horseplayers I'm unaware of? Hell, we're usually broke after the card.  |
Agree CJ.
Laurel's neighborhood is mostly industrial close by. And a few blocks away, it is lower income but that's all Laurel was back in the day. It's fine.
Pimlico's neighborhood was mostly black and fairly poor in the late 70's -90's . Northern Parkway divides a more middle class and Jewish with what is the beginning portion of a rougher part of town. But as for the people that live very near by, when I was young and trained there , I hired a bunch of the local young people as grooms and hot walkers. They were mostly black, fairly poor for the most part were as nice, kind and thoughtful towards others as any group of workers could be. They all walked from home to the barn each morning. Probably 5-6 of them. They respected me as a 22- 23 year old trainer and I respected them. It got to a point where when we were finished and before the first race, 8-10 of use would get into a couple cars and find a local basketball court and play shirts and skins against each other for an hour.
Some of my fondest memories of Pimlico are the younger people that lived near by. They called me "cool capt."
I loved that they liked me and I made sure I reciprocated that feeling towards them. Great group of young men IMO.
