![]() "When I was a kid, my dad used to take me here," said Bill Chambers, the general manager of the center who conceived the return of racing, however briefly, to Marlboro. But the track itself remains and is kept in remarkably good condition. The horses hadn't run there since 1972 until a one-day experiment last year, and the grandstand burned down in 1980. It was one of those warm autumn days that always made Marlboro special the foliage formed a golden backdrop, and one could get a sunburn. "Racing is back at Marlboro." Of course there still isn't much stretch at the five-eighths-mile oval, but that's how Johnson calls it at the big tracks. "And down the stretch they come," cried visiting track announcer Dave Johnson during the first race at noon. It was a nostalgic revival that brought out 7,180 fans, with part of the proceeds to be used to help the center develop a riding program to benefit physically and mentally impaired children and adults. Ten races were held, and another card is scheduled next Wednesday, at what was the old track and is now the Prince George's Equestrian Center, primarily a horse show and exposition center, in Upper Marlboro. Going to the races at Marlboro yesterday was a trip to an almost forgotten past. Long ago I'd find an uncle there, or a teacher, studying a program. Timonium still is plunked down in the middle of the Maryland State Fairgrounds, with its kewpie dolls and sideshow barkers, but it no longer has a meeting of much length. Marlboro had an airy old grandstand, small but uncrowded it was far out in the country. Bel Air I remember for its hedges and greenness. With everything up close, at least I could see. I never did inherit my father's passion for the horses, but if anything I liked the half-mile tracks better than the mile ones. Growing up in Maryland, the son of a race-goer, I was taken many afternoons to tracks around the state. ![]()
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