PLAINVILLE --Two weeks ago, the parking lot at Plainridge Racecourse was virtually empty.

It should have been opening day, but the track was closed and the horsemen that weren't working in the stables behind the main track facility were at the Statehouse in Boston, pleading their case for the legalization of slot machines.

Monday afternoon, with simulcasting rights extended and the track enjoying its second day of live racing since it re-opened last Tuesday, the parking lot was packed and horsemen were busy gearing up for the day's 12 races.

Out on the track, stone dust was being watered and raked.

In the paddock barn, horses were being washed, dressed and groomed. And at the entrance to the paddock, Tom Mello was sitting on standby.

A blacksmith since 1968, Mello, 59, of Rehoboth, forms a part of the harness racing `` pit crew'' that tends to the horses before and in between races, replacing worn shoes and such.

`` I'm glad it's here,'' Mello said of live racing. `` I'm glad it's here.''

Paddock judge Frank Dubreuil was busy making announcements over the loudspeaker, coordinating races and racers, talking about how happy he is to be back and how unhappy he is with the Legislature, which rejected slots at the state's racetracks.

`` Everyone is ecstatic to be back,'' he said. `` Absolutely it's great to be back, and it's just a darn shame that the Legislature didn't do what it's supposed to do, and that's take care of the state of Massachusetts and the people who vote.''

The 52-year-old Rehoboth native reported a healthy population of horses -- 142 in all -- despite the numbers of horsemen and horses that left for racetracks in Maine when it was clear that slots wouldn't be coming to the track any time soon.

In addition to simulcasting, the track currently has live harness racing on Mondays and Tuesdays, and will include Saturdays starting in May.

As race time neared, jog carts to warm horses up were exchanged for race bikes, a thinner, lighter cart that sets closer to the horse for improved aerodynamics.

Drivers dressed in their driving colors and helmets added air to the tires.

`` It's good to be back. It would have been better if we got the slot machines,'' said driver/trainer Jim Hardy, 41, of North Attleboro. Hardy was racing two of his own horses on Monday and catch-driving, or racing for someone else, in four or five races.

Driver/trainer Nemiah `` Leroy'' Hibbert was sitting out behind the paddock barn in his red white and blue driving colors before his race, smoking a cigarette and making jokes with his friends.

Hibbert, 66, of Worcester, has been racing since the 1970s and just returned from Pompano Park Racetrack in Florida, where he races every winter after a two-week visit to Jamaica, his native country, to see his mother.

Hibbert, who has a Jamaican flag painted on his helmet, pointed to a street sign at the edge of the racetrack reading `` Stretch Drive,'' which marks the last stretch of the five-eighths-mile track, and laughed.

`` When you reach right here, you've got to pull tricks right out of the book,'' he said.

Outside the main facility, patrons lined up with programs in hand while a digital scoreboard read off the odds.

Inside was a bevy of activity -- the bar was crowded, tables surrounding the bar were full and people were eyeing the racetrack on TV, or the racetrack outside.

The simulcasting theater held a few people as well, but live racing seemed to be the main attraction.

Track President Gary Piontkowski said Patriots Day is typically a big day for the track, and business was `` pretty good'' for the track's second day of live racing.

Former `` American Idol'' contestant Ayla Brown, 17, of Wrentham, was on hand to sing the national anthem before the first race and sign autographs for fans.

Her father, state Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, was also there, and won about $20 on a `` long-shot'' bet prompted by his younger daughter, Arianna.

It seems several other casual betters made it out for the day.

`` It's something to do, it's a nice day out,'' said Beverly Cote, 82, of Holden.

Cote said she and her husband Edgar, 79, are happy to see the track re-opened and would come more often if they didn't live so far away and gas prices weren't so high.

Edgar Cote said he's been going to tracks for about 30 years, including the track at the former Foxboro Stadium.

Monday he had just lost on a daily double, in which bettors pick the winner of the first and second races, but he wasn't too bothered.

He said they're not the type to get to know the horses and study them like some die-hard bettors who speak of hunches and hard numbers.

Mostly, the Cotes come for the entertainment and the live racing atmosphere.

And they weren't walking away totally empty-handed -- they got an autographed picture of Ayla Brown for their daughter.

Meanwhile, at the end of a live race the announcer called out the winner and a chorus of groans mixed in with chants of `` Yes!'' could be heard.