Suffolk Pleas for a Slots Rescue

Suffolk Downs has gone forward with track improvements and is prepping for a new season to begin on the first Saturday of May.  However, there is a real sense that May 6, 2006 could be the track’s last first Saturday.

Everything is riding on if, or how soon, Massachusetts Legislature will pass a bill allowing Suffolk Downs to install slot machines.  Many realize that this bill could be Suffolk’s lifeline after the coming season, including Bob O’Malley, Suffolk’s chief operating officer.  O’Malley said about the racetrack, “We’re going to go, but we need that bill passed.”

Legislature has already given Suffolk Downs a small break when they approved extending simulcast laws 90-days after the original year-end expiration date.  Unsuccessfully, official of Suffolk’s have tried, more than once, to weave a slot machine proposal into the simulcast bill.  Slot machines have become a permanent and necessary feature in many racetracks across the country.  As a matter of fact many investors have admitted they would have given up on racetracks long ago if it were not for slot machine revenues.  O’Malley is equally aware that slot machines have become a necessity to continue providing thoroughbred racing entertainment in New England.

March is quickly closing in on the racetrack and O’Malley hopes a decision is reached soon.  In the meantime, he is conducting business as usual, recruiting trainers, jockeys, and horses.      

At one point in time, in a not to distant history, Suffolk Downs dominated an energetic New England racing circuit.  That very same circuit included New Hampshire’s Rockingham Park and Rhode Island’s Lincoln Downs and Narragansett Park.  Now, it is a very real possibility that the glamorous history of Suffolk’s could be leading to added parking space for the Logan Airport.    

Suffolk is making money the same way most racetracks make their money nowadays, year-round simulcasting.  Of course other tracks have slot machines to keep the casino making significant profit.  Tracks that provide slot machines now look at racing as a necessary cost of staying in the slots business.  Without slots, O’Malley is plagued with daily concern over canceled races, petty cards, and even pettier purses. 

Looking back on recent business, O’Malley said, “We’ve had a pretty good month [of simulcasting].  The weather helped.  Last year’s weather was brutal, but this year everything is better.  It gives us more opportunity [to generate revenue].”  If Legislature passes the slots bill, it would bring an end to such headaches for O’Malley. 

Suffolk has had quite a glorious history since it opened in 1935.  It was dubbed a temple on the mud flats of East Boston.  Its thoroughbred races brought every class in Massachusetts to the track, rich and poor alike.  Its record attendance stands at 52,726 people on August 10, 1935.

The track has been graced by the finest horses in thoroughbred history.  In 1937, Seabiscuit won the third running of the Massachusetts Handicap.  Later the track hosted other blueblood horses such as Riva Ridge and Cigar. 

Unfortunately, that was then, and this is now.  Last year the track didn’t even run the MassCup.  The track has had enough challenges just putting races together on a day to day basis.  A midweek card was cancelled by track officials to permit employees to attend the slot machines and simulcasting hearings.  Possibly the most tragic of all events is the spill in October that led to the death of jockey Michael Lapensee.  

But Suffolk Downs did not get to where it was by letting up at the finish line.  In that same spirit, O’Malley stated firmly, “We’re going to run this season no matter what.”

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