Another track GONE

[husker71]

Suffolk downs which had been around for  79 years ran their last race.  Seabisquit ran there in 1937 and the Beatles played there in 1966.  So many tracks closing in the last few years.  Next to close may be Colonial   the only track in Virginia.

[cbhawg03]

Cigar and I think Skip Away also. I know Cigar for sure.

[cbhawg03]

Some past winners:

09/20/2008    Commentator   
09/22/2007    Brass Hat       
06/19/2004    Offlee Wild          
06/01/2002    Macho Uno          
06/02/2001    Include           
06/03/2000    Running Stag       
05/29/1999    Behrens          
05/30/1998    Skip Away           
05/31/1997    Skip Away          
06/01/1996    Cigar       
06/03/1995    Cigar       
06/24/1989    Private Terms       
06/25/1988    Lost Code    

By the way, Equibase shows that Chris McCarron won the Mass Cap in 1976, I know I am young, but my goodness how long did he ride

[husker71]

Add Colonial Downs to the list   will not reopen       

[heavylifting]

Suffolk actually closed for a year or two circa 1990 after Buddy Leroux (the former trainer for the Red Sox and Celtics), who bought the track, was unable to keep it going. Sort of like when Dickie D turned the lights out at Arlington for a year (and I'm not talking about the fire). 

James Moseley, who campaigned the stakeswinning mare Drumtop in the 1970s with TJ Kelly, bought Suffolk and reopened it. He died (can't remember when) and his estate sold it to casino mogul Richard Fields, who tried to make a go of it by emphasizing an improved racing product while lobbying for a casino; he lost the casino rights to Steve Wynn.

There's a good chance Suffolk will reopen, since a percentage of casino gambling revenue will be devoted to a fund to supplement racetrack purses. Somebody will be smart enough to know that with that money just sitting there waiting to be tapped that they can at least try to squeeze more life out of Suffolk.

The best bet is an ownership structure composed of Massachusetts horsemen who are willing to try to put on a show (funded largely by that casino supplement) for the sake of saving the sport in New England and not trying to morph into a gaming company ala Churchill Downs.

The best example of how this can be done is Monmouth Park. The state of New Jersey has basically (but not yet officially) sold the track to a horseman's group (led by owner Dennis Drazin and trainer John Forbes) that is now running the plant and developing unused acreage to increase the track's appeal as a destination. For example, they're constructing a concert venue on what was formerly parking. Too early to say that this is a smashing success, but they're staying competitive against states that have racinos, while having had their own casino supplement from Atlantic City yanked about 3 or 4 years ago. And all this despite the devastation wrought by superstorm Sandy 2 years ago, when Monmouth Park served as an evacuation shelter for people put out of their homes by flooding.

If the horsemen at Suffolk have the will to make it happen, it can. But it may take time, and would not be the first time that a year went by with the track dark.

[heavylifting]

Many times I hear people dismiss what are considered racing's minor leagues by denigrating the quality of racing there and suggesting that the sport would be better served by those tracks closing (and presumably just simulcasting better quality racing from out of town). But what those people don't consider is that these small tracks serve as staging grounds for many people who will leave those small tracks for bigger and better things.

Here is a list, strictly off the top of my head, of people of recent vintage who either hailed from New England or made it in New England before they were heard from elsewhere.

The McCarrons -- Chris, Gregg and their brother Al was a trainer, although he never prospered as his brothers did.

Tim Hills

Kathy Ritvo (nee Petro; her brothers have been based at Delaware Park for the last 10 years or so)

Frank Generazio -- formerly a trainer at Suffolk, his horses run in the name of his wife Patricia, and have become increasingly prominent in graded stakes races in recent years

Karl Grusmark -- he scored a minor coup back in 1986, I think it was, at a horses of racing age sale at Belmont Park. The National League Championship series was on at the time (late afternoon) and the game (featuring the Mets) had gone into extra innings. PG Johnson was unloading a horse named Tour d'Or and very few people were paying attention. Grusmark, still based in New England at the time, got him for $14,000 and turned him into a stakes winner up and down the east coast. Karl's now based at Finger Lakes and ships to the NYRA tracks frequently.

Dennis Manning

Bill Perry (best known as trainer of Formal Gold). Originally from South Carolina, had to retire early about 7-8 years ago, due to Parkinson's disease. I've never read an obit for him, so believe he must still be alive, but can only imagine how dreadful life has become for him. Also, one of the most honest horsemen I ever had the pleasure to meet -- he had a horse back in the early 1980s named Let Burn, that was a New York stakes winner, but Perry told me, "If I hadn't ruined him, you would have seen how good he really could be."

Lynn Whiting -- his father Lyle trained a horse named Great Mystery, the best horse around New England in the early 1970s.

The Klesarises -- Bob, Steve, and the next generation. I remember when Bob shipped his first horse to New York, the last race on a card at Belmont Park. He'd somehow convinced Angel Cordero to ride it. Cordero was involved in a jockey's objection in the previous race, the feature, and was late to the paddock. Bob wanted to give Cordero instructions on how to ride the horse, but Cordero basically jumped in the saddle (got there just in time for "riders up") and blew him off. I think the horse won, though.

Ron Dandy won a lot of races up there for many years until relocating to Parx

Abby Fuller, who rode Mom's Command to what was then the New York filly triple crown (Acorn, Mother Goose, CCA Oaks) back around 1987, maybe. For that matter, would we have had Dancer's Image and that whole mess back in 1968 if her father, Peter, hadn't gotten involved in the sport as an owner?

Waquoit -- named after a town on Cape Cod, was a son of Relaunch based at Suffolk, from where he would ship out of to win stakes in New York and elsewhere. I think he hit the board against Alysheba (maybe even 2nd) in the 1988 Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. The trainer's name escapes me, though. Guido something; never had another horse anywhere near as good. 

Woody Sedlacek -- won a lot of New York stakes races for owner Jacques Wimpfheimer in the 1970s and 1980s. A real horseman, you would often see him leading his own horses over to the paddock.

Jack Van Berg also won a lot of races up there in the 1970s, although he'd already established himself in the midwest.

I also remember visiting Suffolk in 1988 when Edgar Prado was the leading rider there.

[holeinthewall]

Suffolk downs which had been around for  79 years ran their last race.  Seabisquit ran there in 1937 and the Beatles played there in 1966.  So many tracks closing in the last few years.  Next to close may be Colonial   the only track in Virginia.

And Colonial announced they were closing also.