So Madison Square Garden lost the Horse Show. Why? Because it is too small. Claims by Cablevision that they plan to renovate the building are absurd. The building itself is too small, and because of it's circular shape, popular back in the 1960's, there is only so much expansion that can take place there. If the Cablevision bid to the MTA was accepted, Cablevision would build a 45,000 seat arena there, despite their protestations to the contrary, then sell the present building to a developer at a hefty profit.

There is no other way for Madison Square Garden to survive.

The Horse Show is j ust another event that will end up at the new West Side Stadium in 2009.

Rush and Malloy

March 21, 2005

New York's horsey set is sporting long faces now that the city's oldest equestrian show has galloped off.

For most of its 121 years, the Metropolitan National Horse Show has been staged at Madison Square Garden, drawing such hoity-toity riders as C.Z. and Cornelia Guest, Kelly Klein and Georgina Bloomberg - not to mention their dollars - to the city.

But show chairwoman Jennifer Oz LeRoy, who runs Tavern on the Green, has informed competitors the event is looking for a new home outside the city for this year.

Spokesman Mason Phelps said that after holding it on Pier 94 the past two years, organizers found that the building was too small to "sell enough seats to offset the cost of the facility. We've decided to look for another venue." Possible alternatives are Syracuse and Harrisburg, Pa.

"We hope to be back," Phelps told us. "There are a lot of us who like an excuse to play in Manhattan."

Show Circuit magazine editor Jill Brooke said the horses may be happier: "They prefer grass to concrete."