JC / Railbird

Suffolk Downs

The Massachusetts Experiment

One year’s decline isn’t a trend, but the fatality rate reduction at Suffolk Downs reported by racing director Jennifer Durenberger is still impressive:

Let’s look first at the catastrophic injury rate for the meet: 1.24 per thousand starts. This is down from 1.73 in 2013 — a nearly 30 percent reduction …

Thanks to the Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database (EID), which captures data from an amazing 93 percent of all flat racing days, we know that the average catastrophic injury rate in 2013 was 1.9 per thousand starts. That includes all horses — young and old, graded stakes competitors and seasoned claimers, sprinters and routers, turf specialists and mudders. When we separate that by surface, we see a nationwide average of 1.63 catastrophic injuries per thousand turf starters and 2.08 per thousand dirt starters. At Suffolk Downs in 2014, the turf rate was 1.44 and the dirt rate was 1.20 — less than 60 percent of the national average.

Among the losses incurred by Suffolk Downs’ demise, count the reform work done by state regulators in partnership with track management since 2012, work that included adopting uniform medication rules and a horse-first welfare policy, making racing safer for vulnerable (older, cheaper) horses.

Posted in Racing on October 6, 2014 / Tagged Equine Safety, Fatalities, Horse Welfare, Massachusetts, Reforms, Regulations, Statistics, Suffolk Downs

Closing Eve

Closing day at Suffolk Downs has long been poignant. Since the track became the last in New England, get-away day has meant a scattering — of horses and trainers and riders to Florida and Maryland and others points south — and the start of another winter. The backstretch empties. The grandstand echoes. First frost ices the infield, then snow covers the racetrack. What’s kept it from being sad has been knowing that come spring, the horses would be back.

But this Saturday, there’s another near-certainty: That the horses won’t return. That after 79 years, Saturday isn’t closing day for another season, but forever.

I’ve seen comments here and there that Suffolk’s end doesn’t matter, that its closing will bolster racing elsewhere, and that its best days are far in the past — the takeout is too high (say horseplayers), there’s too much racing for the market to bear (say industry wiseguys), the game is old-fashioned and can’t draw a crowd (say those who can’t see the beauty and challenge of it) — but I’ll miss the place, and its history and gritty charm, and all the good people who called it theirs and fought for its survival, coming back year after year.

I’ll miss my spot on the rail by the winner’s circle too, but not before I stand at it tomorrow for what’s likely the last time. I’m going to try to celebrate Suffolk until then, try to be like 89-year-old Mary Donatti, a regular since 1941. Asked by a Boston Globe reporter if she had more to say about closing day:

… the sprightly Donatti said, “No, I have to study,” as she peered into her racing form to prep for her day’s first wager.

That’s a woman who knows — there’s always another race.

There is a longshot possibility for next year: The New England HBPA submitted a “placeholder” application for a 2015 meet with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Wednesday. It’s talking with Suffolk Downs management about leasing the track. It’s exploring changing state simulcasting law so that monies can be diverted from purses to operations. “Don’t give up hope, yet!” a teller said to a first-time visitor drawn by Suffolk’s imminent shutdown. I’d like to think he’s right, but I’ll be there on Saturday to say goodbye.

Posted in Racing on October 3, 2014 / Tagged Suffolk Downs

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.

Posted in Racing on September 30, 2014 / Tagged Suffolk Downs

Bleak State

How’s this for a depressing flashback? While looking for something else in the Railbird archive, I came across this April 2005 post about Suffolk Downs, “It’s Dying,” written during an especially pessimistic spring:

… expanded gaming won’t solve New England’s long-term racing woes … Thoroughbred racing will leave New England. It’s inevitable.

Yikes. There’s no satisfaction in being proven right.

Although, I haven’t been, not quite yet. Live racing ends at Suffolk Downs on October 4, and simulcasting at the track will cease sometime in December, but the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is “trying to keep the door open” to Thoroughbred racing, approving a more flexible application process for 2015 on Thursday. Commission chair Stephen Crosby sees possibility:

“There’s the Brockton Fair, there’s the Northampton Fair, there’s fairgrounds all over the place, where there are tracks that can accommodate a thoroughbred race. So that’s one of the issues. And plus, you can create a new thoroughbred track. So there are plenty of options out there. How good, which is the better, I don’t have any idea but there are options out there.”

Sure, options. And any proposals submitted for a meet next year are sure to be creative and take into consideration the realities of the current game. After all, as racing director Jennifer Durenberger told the Commission yesterday, horse racing is “a nimble, flexible, and adaptive industry.” (Stop laughing.) One possible option for next year is a meet run by the New England HBPA, which used a letter to the Commission retroactively approving a 65 day meet this year to press its ultimate claim for a “reasonable” 125 days (PDF, page 103).

Posted in Racing on September 26, 2014 / Tagged Suffolk Downs