From Dave Brigham:
That sign is enticing, isn't it?
"We're going to the track!"
Makes you feel like you're gonna be where the action is, an exciting place where Lady Luck will smile down on you and you'll pick the right horse and go home with a bulging wallet. Right?
No? Well, maybe 20 years ago you would've felt that way. Jump in the car with your favorite dudes or ladies, or maybe your No. 1 Philly or Favorite Guy, and cruise down to the East Boston/Revere line to throw down your bets, throw back a few drinks and throw up your hands in frustration after you lose that week's paycheck. But after nearly 85 years, Boston's Suffolk Downs race track is finally, really, honestly, going to close this summer. For good.
The track closed in 1990 and 1991, reopened for 12 years, and then closed again in 2014. The following year, however, the nags were up and running again, and the track also offered simulcasting from other tracks around the country. The latest closing, which everybody swears will be the actual final nail in the coffin, is slated for early this summer. HYM Investment Group has acquired the site and plans to redevelop it (see June 30, 2018, "Losing Bet at Suffolk Downs").
Having visited the track area in the post I linked to in the previous paragraph, I wanted to check out the horse barns at the northern end of the racing complex. Slated to be demolished this July, the 30 barns and stables played host to famous horses including Seabiscuit (if not these exact barns in 1936, perhaps their ancestors), Whirlaway and Dancer's Image. The race track also hosted concerts over the years, including the Beatles and Radiohead, who I saw here in 2001. I don't believe rock bands consorted with horses in the barns. But you never know.
I wish I could've hopped this fence and gotten into those poop-stankin' horse barns.
But I wouldn't want to mess with the Board of Stewards.
So long, Suffolk Downs. I eagerly await the next chapter at this site.
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