Philadelphia Park

Maureen Costello

Philadelphia Park -- Spring 2010 All photos and content by Maureen Costello

Special Thanks to Tony Galletto and Philadelphia Park

This book dedicated to Dr. Edward Trayes

Foreword“He ran like shit,” Tony Galetto talks breifly over the phone. “You heard about Cassio, right? He came in last place in Atlantic City.” Tony owns two horses at Philadelphia Park, Cassio and Buddy. At one point, he had owned nine. “He had a bad start at the gate. Yeah,” he says. “He ran like real shit.”

Horse racing has been a staple in American society for decades. During the depression, the sport held the hopes of many men and women looking to improve their luck during one of the most economically unstable times in our history.

Philadelphia Park continues the tradition. Tony Galletto, a trainer, owner, and former jockey has been in the business for years. He knows everyone at the park and everyone knows him. I was lucky enough to be able to follow Tony around the back stables of the Park and found myself behind the scenes.

The Stable Gate

“Love is a horse with a broken leg trying to stand while 45,000 people watch.” - Charles Bukowski

Tony’s life revolves around his two horses.

Buddy

The stables are an interesting place to find yourself at. From the top of the ceilings hang different ojects, stuffed animals, cds, chains, and more. They use these as a way to distract the mass amounts of pigeons that find themselves inside the barns. The inside of the barn is matted down from the tracks of the horses being paced around. The horses have to be kept moving after training. “You have to keep to the side when they pass you” Tony warns me. I move off to the side and Buddy bites at my cam-era.

Tony’s horse Buddy is four years old. He bites at the camera and any-thing else in his reach.

Tony talks with another trainer about Cassio’s upcoming race in Atlantic City.

Training

The horses are trained daily at the park. In the morning on race days, the gates open at 8 am, but races don’t offically start until 12:20 pm. Tony arrives daily at the stables around 5:30 in the morning and stays most days till just about 3 pm. Training is an arduous process and most horses take some time to catch up to racing standards. New horses to the stable first learn the track and have to become adjusted to the surrounding people.

All horses are assigned numbers and then in turn tattooed on the upper lip as a form of identification

Tony points out stiches on a recent injury Cassio had to his eye after a race.

Tony does most of the care taking for all of his horses.

“I wish I could take them home with me,” he says. Tony is truly dedicated to his animals. At one point he owned nine different horses that were kept at the barns in Bensalem.

A one year old horse is starting his training at the park. The trainer tries to get him adjusted the people around him constantly.

The horses are generally trained on off days at the Park.

After training, all horses are washed down in order to clean the chemicals from the track off of their feet.

The chemicals, used to keep the track from freezing in the winter, can cause infections if not taken care of properly.

Racing

Rain or shine, people show up at the track for races either during the week or on the weekends. Philadel-phia Park holds races on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 12 to just about 4. Races usually are around 15 minutes apart.

The jockeys racing the horses are usually quick to run off the track after a race, since most of them are usually riding in the next. The typical race lasts about two minutes, if that.