JC / Railbird

Suffolk Downs Archive

Winning Bets I Didn’t Make

Sometimes I think that the winning bets I don’t make hurt worse than the losing bets I do.

I went to Suffolk on Saturday planning to place one wager in race seven and another on the Preakness, and arrived in time to watch the fifth race horses leave the paddock for the track. Horse #6 caught my eye, as he was sans pony in the post parade and had a bouncy jog. “That horse will win,” I thought, and looked at the tote board expecting to see that he was favorite. He wasn’t; his odds were 5-1. I agonized — should I make the bet? I decided not to, because I was all about discipline on Saturday. A review of my wagering since the meet opened on April 30 had revealed that I was doing well, but frittering away my profit with $2 flyers like the one I was contemplating.

Horse #6 won and paid $12.20.

Race six came up and horse #7 intrigued. He was making his first start at Suffolk since racing at Laurel, a profitable angle during the meet’s first couple of weeks (although one that’s become rarer now that most of the horses entered in races have started at Suffolk at least once this spring). But he was stretching out to a mile for the first time, and the favorite looked legitimate, so I passed, even though his odds were 8-1. “Discipline,” I told myself.

Horse #7 won and paid $18.40.

Finally, it was time for the race I came to bet. Race seven, horse #6, odds 5-1. I put my money down.

Horse #6 finished sixth.

Posted in Suffolk Downs on May 22, 2005

Suffolk Notes

Jockey Michel Lapensee was thrown from his mount, Explorationist, in the eighth race today when the six-year-old gelding broke down on the far turn. Lapensee was uninjured and will ride on Tuesday; Explorationist was euthanized on the track … Rider Joe Hampshire returns to Suffolk Downs on Wednesday … This Sunday, May 22, is Eddie Andelman’s 16th annual Hot Dog Safari. A fundraiser for the Joey Fund, tickets are $10 in advance/$15 at the door. Last year, more than 40,000 people (or, about 20 times the average weekday crowd) showed up for all the hot dogs they could eat and nine live races.

Posted in Suffolk Downs on May 16, 2005

Funny, Not So Funny

Suffolk COO Robert O’Malley on the state of Massachusetts racing, past and present:
“I always remember the line from Dave Wilson, who was the racing writer with the old Record in Boston: ‘Suffolk Downs is the only place where a Ph.D. from M.I.T. would chase a tattered bum across the apron asking, “What do you know?”‘”
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“There isn’t the interest in the local product from day to day. There’s more interest in out-of-town races.”

Posted in Suffolk Downs on May 7, 2005

Modest Revival for Suffolk Stakes

The Massachusetts Handicap and the James B. Moseley Breeders’ Cup may not be on Suffolk Downs’ 2005 schedule, but the rest of Suffolk’s 2005 open stakes schedule will be revived.
The track cancelled 10 $40,000 open stakes races in early April to help conserve the overnight purse account. In a meeting with the New England HBPA last Wednesday, Suffolk agreed to replace those races with an equal number of $25,000 stakes. Officials from the Breeders’ Cup offered to match the purses on four of those races, which means that Suffolk this year will run six $25,000 named races and four $50,000 stakes races, in addition to the 12 state-bred stakes already scheduled.
“The people at the Breeders Cup saw that we were forced to cut our stakes program to stabilize the overnight purse structure for the local horsemen and stepped up made us the offer,” said Suffolk COO Robert O’Malley. “This will give both the horsemen and the track the opportunity to still offer a respectable stakes program without heavily impacting our overnight purse structure. In addition, it will give our racing fans some nice races to look forward to.”
Racing secretary Jim Pambianchi is meeting with HBPA officials this week and is expected to publish the revised stakes schedule soon. [Many thanks to reader and fellow Suffolk fan Doug Beaton for the HBPA news link.]
Suffolk notes: Apprentice jockey Anne Sanguinetti earned her first win at Suffolk in race one on Monday, aboard Judith’s Trifle.

Posted in Suffolk Downs on May 3, 2005