The Bottom Line
Pros
- One of very few travel guides specifically with the racing fan in mind
- Conveniently arranged for touring several tracks on one trip
- Useful information about each track and nearby attractions
- Excellent color photos to enhance the descriptions of the facilities
Cons
- Hotels and restaurants tended to the high-end market; not affordable to all fans
Description
- Rich accounts of 65 different tracks across North America accompanied with full-color photography
- Overviews of each facility: location, race dates, admission cost, amenities, phone numbers, and URL
- Sidebars covering performance categories, handicapping, the Triple Crown, and more
- Descriptions of hotels, nightclubs, coffee houses, and bed and breakfast accomodations nearby
- Parks, museums, galleries, national monuments, sporting events, and other side activities.
- Recommended dining and accomodation choices tended to be pricy.
Guide Review - Horse Racing Coast to Coast: The Traveler's Guide to the Sport of Kings
In this travel guide, the tracks are grouped regionally, since many travelers may want to combine several tracks into one road trip. Each region is further divided by state, and then under states the tracks are listed. The useful information is highlighted in a "SnapShot" box, with the basics like racing season, driving directions, nearest airports, web addresses and phone numbers. But the articles for each track is where the writers truly shine. The reader learns about the history of the track, what their important stakes races are, and some observations made by the writers during their visit, such as the quality of the racing product and of the physical plant itself.At the end of each regional section, Smith-Beranzini and Walmsley include a travel section. Here, the reader learns about other atractions and annual festivals in and around the major cities in that region. For example, visitors to Saratoga Springs can go to the Saratoga Automobile Museum and the Saratoga National Historical Park. Finally, each section concludes with the writers' recommended hotels and restaurants. Their choices would qualify as "Expensive" in other travel books, so travelers on a budget may want to look elsewhere or consult with fellow racing fans (a good source would be the Horse Racing Forum on this website) to find more reasonably hotels and restaurants.
Despite this setback, any racing fan considering traveling to the races can refer to this book not only for information on the track they wanted to visit, but places to consider visiting in the future.
