Moving On
What’s next for some Suffolk Downs backstretch families?
She said her father, who is an outrider at the track, has been going to Maryland for the winters over the last several years, and will likely have to go down there for nine months now and then go further into the south for the remaining three months …
More than anything, though, she said she feels for her uncles, who are all in their 40s and 50s and are facing the end of their life-long trade.
“For my uncles, that’s all they know how to do; that’s their trade,†she said. “They have done nothing else their entire lives, just that one trade working with horses. I guess they could work at a gas station or as a cashier somewhere, but that’s kind of demeaning for them after so many years working so hard in their trade.”
New England HBPA president Anthony Spadea plans to file a “placeholder” application for 2015 racing dates by tomorrow. The move will give the group time to sort out a possible plan. “The issue is extremely complicated, and we need to see if the simulcasting laws in the state can be changed,” Spadea told Lynne Snierson after a meeting with Suffolk Downs officials on Monday.
10/1/14 Update: Carney has filed for 2015 Brockton dates.
