The last story, an obituary if you will, is something no one wants to write about a racetrack. But sadly, the end will finally come to Pompano Park in a few short weeks, as the realization that the last reprieve will not come. The fact that the doors will officially close after live racing on April 17 has started to sink in to those who work and race there. "I keep telling people 'if you want to see it for the last time, you better get over here now,'" said Gabe Prewitt, the track's announcer and one-man-band who, at times, appears to have single-handedly helped garner the track needed attention and pumped up the pari-mutuel handle. "I've been here nine years," said Prewitt, "And it was pretty bad when I arrived with all of the negativity. Nobody liked the place. We had to try something and so we worked on improving the multi-race bets and getting attention on social media." Prewitt's efforts likely added some years to Pompano's longevity, something not lost on those in the industry, but inevitably politics changed for the worse as far as harness racing was concerned in Florida and eventually time ran out. "The property is always going to be valuable," Prewitt said. "They sold off the training center some years back and got a fraction of what the property would be worth today." Needless to say in the end, what couldn't save Pompano is quite similar to the number of racetracks that came before it and closed under similar scenarios. From a historic perspective Pompano rose up in 1964 and became the "Winter Capital" of harness racing for a number of reasons. At the time Florida had not yet become the prime destination for all in the Northeast to relocate upon retirement, but it was in the process of heading in that direction. In bringing a harness track to Florida, Pompano gave a lot of those coming south something they were quite familiar with up north in tracks like Yonkers and Roosevelt Raceway. The time was also ripe for trainers to spend winters in Florida breaking in young horses, and the track served a dual purpose of a training center for the sport's major stables (Dancer and Haughton to name a couple), as well as a place to educate and race some young horses before going north again when the weather broke. It was a splendid marriage for an industry and a racetrack for some time, but as with almost everything in life, eventually some things change with a force that makes it impossible to return to the past. That something proved to be economics for many, as purses improved over the winter in the north, and the luxury of relocating an entire stable in the south became less cost effective. Combine that with the reality that Pompano's purse structure was limited to its handle, and for years until Prewitt's arrival, it was on the decline both on-track and off. While Prewitt's efforts did help the track see incredible record-breaking handle figures, the grim reality is that off-track takeout was simply too small to help the track compete from a purse standpoint against tracks up north that had the benefit of a slot-induced purse account. "I think getting wide interest in those multi-race wagers may have added three years to the life of the track," said Prewitt in retrospect. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter The heavy weight of pulling in interest from across the country was just too much of an ask for a racetrack that had ceased to enjoy the support of a wide array of horsemen over the years and lost a large chunk of its on-track horseplayers as well. Having been around long enough to see many tracks close, I see Pompano pretty much in the same light as Roosevelt Raceway, which shuttered unexpectedly to some, but realistically to others back in 1988. Much like Pompano, Roosevelt Raceway sat on some prime real estate and had reached a point in time that it no longer did the business it did in its heyday. A parking lot once necessary to handle an overflow crowd spent so many nights less than 10 percent filled that it became obvious over time that it would be more valuable to a buyer than it was to the existing owner. Still, to those who loved the sport here on Long Island and certainly down in Florida at Pompano, it's a second home that will no longer welcome you when you knock on the door. It's a bitter pill to swallow. For me, there's never a time I pass the development that came after Roosevelt Raceway was razed and ask myself, "Is this really better than before?" Years later, it has become obvious that the sport's popularity is nowhere near what it enjoyed in the 1960's and 1970's. It's hard to blame racetrack owners as a group for that and certainly even more difficult to blame them for moving on and letting someone else have a chance to make better use of the property. What happened at Roosevelt is certainly likely to happen at Pompano when it comes to the displacement of horse people. "I think some people will try to relocate," said Prewitt, "And others will look for something else to do in a different field." That's the tough part as we count down the days of what remains of live harness racing at Pompano Park. "Dick Macomber Jr. just stopped by the other night for the final time. It was sad," said Prewitt. "His family grew up at this place." Macomber will go to Indiana, where his stable has been a mainstay. He, like many, have seen the writing on the wall and made the pilgrimage from the south to the northern tracks, where earning a living racing Standardbreds is still possible. "I think the biggest thing that hurt us down here is that there was always uncertainty about the future," said Prewitt. "If you were a breeder, it was hard to get a mare in foal and not know whether there would be a stakes program when the foal was born." While tracks like Roosevelt Raceway, Liberty Bell and Brandywine in my theoretical neighborhood fell victim to the times and the value of real estate when they were shuttered, horsemen in this part of the country were left with some alternatives that didn't ask for a major relocation. The arrival of the Meadowlands in 1976 saw to that. The same will not be true for Floridians, who won't be around the corner from any racetrack where full-time employment and potential prosperity exists. For them, for a long time, it was Pompano or bust. Sadly, that day has arrived.