Unforeseen Consequences
If Suffolk Downs were to close permanently, the losses would go beyond jobs and open space:
Suffolk’s open tradition is not limited to jockeys. There are more women trainers at Suffolk Downs than at any other track — about 40 according to an informal count done last summer. Many of the grooms are women. The track vet is a woman. The board chair is a woman — Patricia Moseley. There are only two women stewards in the country and one, Susan Walsh, is at Suffolk Downs. Beyond these are women who work as pony riders, walkers, tellers and in many other posts … Suffolk’s demise would destroy what has been a steady force for the equality of women in the workplace. Solely as a topic that concerns working women, and one with national implications, the survival of Suffolk Downs deserves care and attention.
Piermarini Wins 1,500th
Tammi Piermarini’s first season at Tampa Bay is shaping up as a memorable one for the rider, who was third in the Suffolk Downs jockey standings at the close of last year’s meet. Piermarini won her 1,500th race aboard Carson Unleashed in the second at Tampa Bay last Sunday and was named the track’s “Jockey of the Month” on Thursday.
Northampton Ends Racing
It’s the end of an era: The Massachusetts fair circuit is gone.
Citing competition from casinos and declining handle, Three County Fair president Alan Jacque said on Tuesday that racing is being eliminated from the fair’s program after 150 years. The Northampton fair was the last of six Massachusetts fairs to offer any sort of horseracing.
I came along too late to enjoy the fairs’ larcenous heyday, but Bill Finley remembers well the days when races were fixed and horses stiffed:
In 1983, I was on hand to witness how shamelessly crooked racing at the fairs could be. Right out of college and working my first job in racing, I was assigned to the fairs by the Daily Racing Form to work as a chart taker and was not too thrilled to learn that I would be making less than $200 a week. What I didn’t count on was that my stint at Marshfield was going to present me with the greatest betting opportunity of my life.
Because there was no press box there, we had to work from a card table behind a bay of mutuel windows. I sat in front of a mechanical board that showed how much had been bet on each exacta combination, information that was not made available to the public. By watching what exacta combinations were taking an inordinate amount of money, I was, essentially, in on the fix. I cleaned up, once cashing, I kid you not, after standing in the same line as a jockey.
More can be read about Massachusetts fair shenanigans in Andrew Beyer’s “My $50,000 Year at the Races.” Lured by the promise of grinding out $1,000 a day just by following the “smart money,” Beyer takes a break from playing the New York circuit to visit Great Barrington Fair, where he loses $1,500 and “the last vestiges of my innocence.”
What the Future Holds
“If slots haven’t made it to the track by this time next fall, said Christian Teja, spokesman for Suffolk Downs, it will likely close the doors on its 70-year history.”
Related: “[Suffolk Downs] has been here since the 1930s, and I would hate to see it go. I hope it’s not turned into more airport parking.”
About
Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
Elsewhere
Find Jessica on Pinboard and Instagram, Railbird on LibraryThing and Twitter.
Etc.
Links
Search
Boston Racing
Spreadsheets/Data
← Home
Copyright © 2000-2023 by Jessica Chapel. All rights reserved.