Word: hoppegarten
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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West Germans responded like gamblers drawn to the only wheel in town. By the thousands they flocked to the famed Hoppegarten track...
...Shot of Schnapps. Old timers could recall Hoppegarten in its heyday, the white grandstands looming above the green of the track, the white Rhineland gravel on the paths, the bright flags from all of Europe. Hulking Uhlans and tall, trim Hussars marched with their ladies between training ovals, stopped now and then for champagne or a quick shot of schnapps. Great horses from the royal Graditz stables raced against some of the finest thoroughbreds in the world in those good days before World...
Under Hitler Hoppegarten enjoyed a kind of ghostly glory: Goebbels and the bemedaled Göring strutted about the grounds, and Franz von Papen brought the top-hatted diplomatic corps to the betting booths. There were still some good horses. But World War II ended everything. "When the Russians found a good horse," said a sad West Berlin trainer last week, "they either ate it, shipped it to Russia, or tied it to a plow...
...Poor Pig. The once white gravel of Hoppegarten was grey and unkempt. In place of the old gay flags were monotonous red banners. Instead of champagne, there was weak beer; instead of flower girls, old women hawking Communist "reconstruction lottery" tickets. The wives of Communist functionaries walked up and down munching garlic sandwiches...
...week's end, before the Hoppegarten meeting was over, even East zone bettors had taken their meager supply of marks to the betting booths of West Berlin's Mariendorf trotting track. For a true horseplayer, this was a terrible comedown...
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