Shaler's Michael Thomas remembers the day The Meadows opened. It was in 1963, the year he graduated from high school, and he joined thousands of other handicappers in the gleaming grandstand excited about betting on that day's races.

Now the huge grandstand is gone, with four-story-high, brown steel girders in its place as the sign of a casino-entertainment-racing facility to open within a year. The Meadows still holds live harness racing four days a week -- and held a special race day accompanying the telecast of the Kentucky Derby yesterday -- but the challenges keep mounting for those fans devoted to it.

For construction-related reasons, the racetrack dropped its night racing in October. Competitive factors, its officials say, led it subsequently to drop Saturday racing. Last week, cable telecasts of its racing for people watching at home stopped, though The Meadows did not control that decision.

Its longtime signature event, the annual Adios, will relocate this summer to Pocono Downs in eastern Pennsylvania because of the lack of facilities to watch the race.

"I think everyone understands this is short-term pain for long-term gain," said Michael Jeannot, director of administration for The Meadows Racetrack & Casino.

No view for on-site bettors

Yesterday's Derby Day marked the finish to the bettors' temporary quarters in the racetrack's Adios Room. Patrons have done their handicapping in the former party room since October due to the reconstruction. They had a window view of a corner of the track and rows of televisions to watch races across the country.

The fewer than 100 horse players a day who come regularly to the track will be moved May 15 to converted trailers in a parking lot. They won't even see the sulkies running the oval track any longer. They'll have the same view of The Meadows -- through a TV monitor -- as someone watching at the track's four offtrack betting sites or 2,000 miles away at Santa Anita Park in California.

For many of the enthusiasts poring over the Daily Racing Form like Mr. Thomas, this is no big deal because it fits the nature of race wagering today.

He's among those at The Meadows who don't even bet on harness racing. He's there for the simulcasting, in which people sitting at a racetrack, an OTB parlor or home computer can view and bet on any of dozens of tracks that may run simultaneously around America on a given day.

No more than 7 percent of the wagering on the 3,000 or so races taking place at The Meadows in a year is actually made by people on site. People present at The Meadows bet less than $5 million annually on its own races, not even equaling what Mr. Thomas' wife and others insert in the 1,815 slot machines there in a single day.

Horse bettors at The Meadows invest more than three times as much in races at other tracks, especially major national venues where potential payoffs are better from hard-to-win risks like trifectas and daily doubles.

After dropping his wife at the temporary slots building, Mr. Thomas spends one or two afternoons a week testing his skill at picking winners at Churchill Downs, Belmont and other high-profile sites for "flat racing," as he calls the thoroughbreds. That won't change from the move to the trailer, and he looks forward to the spring of 2009, when the 350,000-square-foot version of The Meadows Racetrack & Casino is to open.

"This is all they can do; their hands are tied," he said of the more cramped conditions on a day last week when he flipped the channel on the small TV in front of him between races from Churchill Downs and Indiana Downs. He had his share of winners, mostly favorites, so his profit was small -- but still better than a more common alternative.

Subsidy from slots

"The casino's got to go up. You can't stop the casino. That's where all the money is," said Mr. Thomas, a retired Duquesne Light technician who likes racing for the challenge of "looking at different angles and figuring out the winner."

The mindset of the horse-racing gambler is as different from slots players as the revenue they generate for the racetrack casinos. Essentially, the losses of the button-pushing, minimal-decision, immediate-gratification slots players are subsidizing those who make their living from horse racing, and helping to keep the sport alive for the old souls who gamble on it.

Slots revenue has boosted the purses awarded to horses competing at The Meadows to $130,000 daily, about three times as much as before slots arrived in June. It has made the sport more lucrative for owners, trainers and drivers and attracted some new ones to the track.

One downside, however, is that the upheaval from construction impaired the ability to provide the same track lighting as before, causing the switch from night to day racing. The Meadows and many other harness tracks have traditionally run in the evening to avoid competing with the more popular thoroughbred tracks, which feature afternoon racing.

Kim Hankins, executive director of the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association, said horse owners -- most of whom make their primary living at some other occupation -- generally prefer night racing so they can watch the competition and be part of the winner's circle excitement if they do well.

"It does put a crimp also in the opportunity of generating new owners, because it's hard to present all the things that are part of racing, when the only time you do it is when people generally are working," Mr. Hankins said.

Mr. Jeannot said the congestion on the property during the construction period, particularly a shortage of parking, is another factor in eliminating racing for now at night and on weekends, when the casino is at its busiest. Those could change when the permanent structure opens, with an adjacent garage for more than 1,000 cars, in addition to its restaurants and seating overlooking the track.

Local cable telecasts gone

One negative unrelated to slots is the decision by HorseRacing TV, effective this month, to drop the local cable telecasts devoted specifically to racing from The Meadows. The Meadows was among the first tracks nationally to air live racing, first shown on local cable in 1983, to coincide with the debut of services in which people could call in their bets by phone.

HRTV officials say they believe thoroughbreds running at major horse tracks hold more appeal to viewers than the standardbreds at The Meadows. Critics point out that HRTV is co-owned by Magna Entertainment Corp. and Churchill Downs, which are more likely to profit from wagering on their own tracks by reducing coverage of The Meadows. Even though Magna, the former owner of The Meadows, still manages the track, that role did not stop HRTV from reducing exposure of the racing there.

Bob Zanakis, a Canonsburg resident who offers race-wagering tips on a Web site and bets on The Meadows and other tracks primarily by home computer, is among those unhappy with HRTV's decision. He's also displeased that bettors at The Meadows are being moved away from the track, although he understands the necessity.

When he visits the track, where he formerly worked as a waiter, he likes to see the horses in person, timing their warm-ups, gauging their energy, looking for any edge in handicapping. Mr. Zanakis said he doesn't try to make a living at it, as very few handicappers are capable of beating the house edge in which 20 percent of all money wagered is kept to cover purses, costs, taxes and profit.

That challenge, along with all the others put in the path of the traditionalists who have stuck by The Meadows, may minimize his betting. But the interest in racing survives for a core group willing to withstand the changes, including all the interim shifts at The Meadows.

Roger Huston, the track's longtime announcer, noted some other venues have had extended shutdowns while rebuilding, much longer than the two months off that the Meadows took from August to October last year.

"You may hear some grumbling," he acknowledged, "but you say to people, 'Well, it beats the alternative of no racing, doesn't it?' Then they say, 'Well, sure.' "