The Final Stretch for Suffolk Downs
CreditJared Wickerham for The New York Times
EAST
BOSTON, Mass. — When the track here opened in 1935, it boasted the
first concrete grandstand in the country, and a throng of 35,000
gleefully cheered thoroughbred racing to Puritan Massachusetts. It drew
legends — like Seabiscuit, who ran here in 1937, and the Beatles, who
played here in 1966 — as well as scores of horse trainers, clerks and
gamblers who, over time, came to know this place, Suffolk Downs, better
than an old pair of slippers.
“It’s
been every day here for the last 40 years,” said Bernard Bramante, 74, a
former commercial fisherman who owns and trains horses that ran here.
With a white knitted cap perched atop his head, Mr. Bramante tied a
saddle to a horse named Dancing Buki, merrily predicting success for his
final race here.
The
concrete looks dated now, and the expansive dining areas are, more
often than not, desolate. But on Saturday, as fog enveloped the track
and white slips of paper recalling doomed wagers flitted through the
air, some 9,100 people gathered for what was most likely the last day of
live racing at Suffolk Downs.
Last Day at the Races
Suffolk Downs, New England’s last thoroughbred racetrack, is closing down after 79 years of service.
Video by Jess Bidgood on
Publish Date October 5, 2014.
The
expansion of casino gambling in the United States has made life harder
for racetracks that, like this one, lack their own casinos, big purses
or the glamour of places like Churchill Downs, in Kentucky, and the
Saratoga Race Course, in New York.
“As
a sporting product, horse racing still does very well on its biggest
days, but as a day-to-day gambling product, it has not measured up with
the expansion of casino gaming,” said Chip Tuttle, the chief operations
officer of Suffolk Downs, who said the track has not been profitable for
nearly a decade.
Mr.
Tuttle hoped the track’s lifeline would come in the form of
Massachusetts’ own expanded gambling law, which allowed for three
resort-style casinos in the state, one of which will be in the Boston
area. Mohegan Sun, the behemoth casino in Connecticut, offered a
proposal on the Suffolk Downs grounds that would keep the track in
business, but state officials passed it over in favor of a bid by Wynn
Resorts in nearby Everett.
“We just don’t see any way we can continue to operate,” said Mr. Tuttle.
There
is a horseman’s group that hopes to race here next year, but their
proposal is widely viewed as a long shot. So Saturday was marked as the
day to say goodbye.
The
rows of barns were quiet on Saturday morning, since many horses that
were not racing had already left. Ambrose Pascucci, an owner and
trainer, had come to pay a visit to his last horse here, Ginger. Mr.
Pascucci, 61, looked dejectedly at his empty stalls. He has given
decades of his life to this place, and even lost half of his left pinkie
finger to a horse’s hoof before a race.
“Best that can happen now, drive to Miami, check out what’s going on, and restart,” Mr. Pascucci said.
But for now, he said, “I’m going to go up to the races, see if I can bet some winners.”
He
found many others doing the same. They came in honor of dead relatives
who loved this track. Others came for the first time out of curiosity,
having realized only because of its impending closure that this time
capsule was still open. Some came for a last hurrah with dear friends,
and others for a last chance to gaze at hot-blooded horses in the flesh.
“It’s
kind of really sad,” said Dylana Barilone, 20, a college student in
Salem, Mass., who aspires to be a mounted policewoman. “There are over
700 horses here, and this is their job, this is their life, this is what
they love to do.”
The
employees here say the same thing about themselves. The track says
there are 325 employees here, and hundreds more contractors who work
with thoroughbreds in the state, who will struggle.
“Once
it gets in your blood, it kind of stays in your blood,” said Paul
Ferrari, of Malden, a mutuel clerk who has taken bets here for more than
30 years. On Saturday, he sat upright in the first open window in an
endless-looking row, clacking plastic keys on his register and sorting
crisp bills into an upright metal shelf.
“This
is great,” Mr. Ferrari said, looking at the betting lines stretching
far beyond his window. “Where you been for the last 20 years?”
Heather
Gallo, of Sagamore, strode up to the window, clad in a denim jacket
from the Breeders’ Cup that had belonged to her father, who died last
year.
“I
just thought I’d come because I can’t believe it’s the last day here,”
Ms. Gallo said. “He would have been here — we would have been here
together.”
Willie
Thornton was here to bet, as he has for years, clad in a suit and a
waistcoat. “Suffolk Downs has been my mistress,” said Mr. Thornton, 74, a
retired member of the military from Dorchester. “I can’t tell you how
much I’ve spent,” he added. “It’s astronomical.”
And,
of course, the horses ran, race after race, nine in all, on the muddy
track that left dismounting jockeys looking like they had just been
splattered with cement. Horses with names like Queen of Heat, Bo Badger
and Restless Rebel claimed their place in Suffolk Downs history in mist
so thick that, from the grandstand, it was sometimes difficult to see
the racers on the far side of the track. (Mr. Bramante’s horse, Dancing
Buki, finished last in his race.)
Rain
pounded the track after the last race, and Justin Stygles, of Norway,
Me., looked at the empty stretch with a tear in his eye. Thoroughbred
racing in New England was probably over.
He
wondered if the region was simply too puritanical to support gambling,
or if the success, in recent years, of major sports teams like the
Patriots and the Red Sox had diminished interest here.
“The sport is changing” said Mr. Stygles, 37, a teacher. “You’re not going back home.”
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