Having not been to Ney York City for many years I have not had a chance to see first-hand the state of affairs at any of the NYRA tracks. However, a good friend of mine on the East coast visited New York this past winter and sent me the e-mail that is copied below which descibes the conditions at Aqueduct....

"speaking of the Big A, the A stands for appaling, atrocious, you name it. I went there for the first time in years on Saturday. The place has really gone downhill. A good portion of it is closed off as that is where they want to put slots. It is like maze with most of the stairways closed. To get to the seats was a nightmare. In the clubhouse, up 3 flights of stairs, back out to the grandstand, through 3 different lounges, and finally a seat. All of them covered with birdsh!@#$t. This was my girlfriends first trip to a race track. I guess I did not paint an ugly enough picture as she did not think it was that bad. Wait until she see's Saratoga. Anyway, Big A needs to go. NYRA should build a winter track inside of the inner turf at Belmont which is a mile and 3/16th's so fitting a one mile track there should not be a problem. For all of NYRA's money troubles, the land that Big A occupies must be worth many millions. The place borders JFK Airport so it is prime commercial real estate. We stand in line to get a soda, the guy behind the counter is some drunk, he is beet red and shaking like a leaf. I felt bad for the guy in a way. A really sad place, you can see at one time it must have really been something. Out back on the porch, you get a nice view of the Manhatten skyline. A couple of regulars made me laugh as they were counting the days to Belmont so the could "get away from this f-cking dump". If it is nice I will go down to Belmont for opening day. I doubt I will be going back to the Big A anytime soon".......

Pretty darned pathetic if you ask me.