End of an era at Suffolk Downs after 84 years as demolishers move in

It was part homecoming and part wake for the extended New England racing family, which turned out in force to write the final chapter in the history of Suffolk Downs as live racing reached the finish line at the 84-year-old landmark on Sunday.

"I was in Delaware this morning, and someone asked me if I was going to go up to Boston for the closing, and I said, 'Positively.' So I jumped in my car and drove seven hours to be here," said Ned Allard, who trained 1985 Triple Tiara winner and Hall of Famer Mom's Command, arguably the greatest horse to come out of New England, for Peter Fuller.

"It's enough to bring a tear to your eye. I started here with George Handy in 1957 and started on my own in 1970 and raced actively here until the mid-90s, so Suffolk has been a very special place for me. I won over 125 stake races here in New England. It's the end of an era, and it's sad."

Suffolk Downs was sold for real estate development in 2014 after it was passed over for the lone Boston-area casino license in 2014, sealing its fate. But Sterling Suffolk Racecourse retained the racing and simulcasting operation, allowing the track to host abbreviated meets from 2015-19. Sunday's 12-race card had to be the last as demolition of the property begins on Monday morning, and the stable area will be the first to come down.

The card included a pair of $50,000 stakes restricted to Massachusetts-breds, and standing in the winner's circle was bittersweet for Joe DiRico, who won the Thomas F. Moran Stakes with fourth-generation homebred Saint Alfred.

"This horse is named for my father, and he came here with my Uncle Joe on opening day in 1935. It means a great deal to win one of the last two stakes races to ever be run at Suffolk Downs with this horse," he said. "I grew up here. My father had the resources and the passion to own and breed horses, and I still have that passion. Winning with this horse is a tribute to him. I have so many great memories."

Tammi Piermarini, a multiple Suffolk Downs riding champion and the track's third all-time leading jockey, was aboard Saint Alfred. Piermarini started working at the track as a 16-year-old.

"I'm so happy to be here at home with everybody for the final day, but at the same time, it's so sad that we will never be back here," said Piermarini, 54, who brought her family back to Boston with her.

Carl Gambardella, who won more than 6,300 races in New England and was a star on New England's old Suffolk-Rockingham Park-Lincoln Downs-Narragansett Park circuit before injury forced him out of the irons, made it back to the paddock for the first time in several years. "Sad is right the word. It's the end of an era. I closed every one of those tracks, and now it's this one. Time marches on. The younger generation just won't come to the races anymore," he said.

Anthony Spadea Jr., the president of the New England affiliate of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, summed up the feelings of the membership.

"This is a sad day for all the horsemen and all the people who have been coming here for the last 84 years. We have so many people who have earned their living either at the track racing their horses or on the many farms taking care of the horses and breeding horses," he said.

"We all hoped live racing would continue to be part of the landscape here in Massachusetts. We have such great sports teams with the Red Sox, the Celtics, the Bruins, and the Patriots, and racing is a part of this state. Why has no legislator except the Speaker of the House (Robert DeLeo) taken an interest in trying to help the horsemen, the farmers, the breeders, and everybody connected to our sport so they would not be displaced?

"We're losing thousands of people who make their living from this sport. There's been no major interest taken by any politician to help. This industry should have been preserved as part of the landscape, and especially part of the open space in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It would have been nice to get help from the governor and the legislators to get that type of help."

Spadea and his group are working toward the development of a new live racing venue, and Chip Tuttle, chief operating officer of SSR, said he will be at the state capitol on Monday morning to testify on several bills that would enable the revitalization of the shuttered Great Barrington Fairgrounds in western Massachusetts.

"We celebrate the legacy of Suffolk Downs this weekend. To have a pity party would have been counterproductive," said Tuttle. "The more we look at Great Barrington, the better it looks."

Though the wrecking ball and the excavators were to begin on Monday morning, the simulcasting operation will continue in the main building of Suffolk Downs until further notice.

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