The East Boston Connection
Furthering my half-joking homer theory that everyone in American racing has a connection to Suffolk Downs is this story of jockey Edgar Prado:
In 1988, one of Bob Klesaris’ jockeys at Boston’s Suffolk Downs was suspended. Too aggressive a ride, too tight, the trainer was told. Klesaris challenged the decision. It was his first appeal at the racecourse. He was confident the stewards would see, as he did, that his jockey was “100 percent in the right.”
They didn’t, and when Klesaris returned to the barn area, he spotted the offending jockey.
“Listen, I’m going to send you to Maryland,” he recalled telling him.
Edgar Prado, who over the next decade in the state would become its leading jockey six times, turned to Klesaris. Not knowing much about the nation’s geography, he asked: “What country is that?”
Suffolk racing returns for the first of three weekends this year on July 9-10.
