Amid the slumping economy, the empty grandstands and the tumbling bottom line, it's sometimes easy to forget that horse racing can be pretty special, even rather popular. Jeff Gural remembers. He came into the sport of harness racing during its golden era, when the stands were packed at Yonkers and Roosevelt Raceways and a driver, Carmine Abbatiello, had his own beer commercial. Whether it's harness or Thoroughbred racing, Gural isn't convinced that the sport can't climb its way back and do so without a crutch called slot machines.
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