On Sunday afternoon, Atlantic City Race Course broke a 37-year attendance record when 13,528 people showed up for its six-race card at the little track in Mays Landing, New Jersey.

If by “boutique meet,” you mean short, then Atlantic City is the most boutique of the boutiques, racing for only six days every year. If by “boutique meet” you mean high-class racing in a well-appointed atmosphere…well, maybe not so much.

Opened in 1946, Atlantic City races these days largely to meet state requirements to offer a simulcast center, which is open year-round. Its physical plant is crumbling, though its small backyard, near a picturesque paddock, is grassy and welcoming, with picnic tables, a bar, and betting windows. Just inside the gates, the area is almost enough to make visitors forget the dusty, unpaved, rocky parking lot they’ve traversed to get inside.

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