Suffolk Downs
View of the racetrack from Orient Heights.
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| Location | 525 McClellan Highway East Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
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| Coordinates | 42°23′N 71°01′W / 42.39°N 71.01°W |
| Owned by | Sterling Suffolk Racecourse LLC |
| Date opened | 1935 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred |
| Course type | Flat |
| Notable races | Massachusetts Handicap |
| Official website | |
Suffolk Downs is a thoroughbred race track in East Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The track opened in 1935 after being built by Joseph A. Tomasello for a cost of $2 million. The last regularly scheduled live racing at Suffolk Downs took place on Saturday, October 4, 2014.
A number of famous horses raced at the track, including Seabiscuit, Whirlaway, Funny Cide, and Cigar. The Massachusetts Handicap (or MassCap) was the track's most significant annual event, last held in 2008. The track is a 1-mile (1.6 km) dirt oval with a seven-furlong inner turf track. Non-race functions at the venue included the Hot Dog Safari.
The track provides the name of the nearby MBTA Suffolk Downs subway station.
Suffolk Downs was one of two live horse racing tracks in operation in Massachusetts, the other being Plainridge Racecourse.
After parimutuel betting was legalized in Massachusetts, the Eastern Racing Association, Inc. was formed to open a thoroughbred race track in East Boston. Businessman, politician, and former steeplechase jockey Bayard Tuckerman, Jr. was the corporation's first president. Harness racing promotor Allan J. Wilson was named vice president. Walter E. O'Hara, promoter of the Narragansett Park was named managing director of the track, however he backed out after a few months because he felt East Boston was not a suitable site for a race track and instead wanted to build a track in Framingham or Natick. Richard Danielson, Charles Adams, and John R. Macomber were also members of the track's first board of directors.
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