Suffolk plans to lighten load
Suffolk Downs must apply to the state commission for 2005 racing dates by Oct. 1, and management intends to seek a schedule similar to this year's, with some modifications.
The law was changed this season to allow Suffolk to conduct 1,100 races, as opposed to 150 programs, to remain eligible to simulcast. Management would like to reduce that number to 900 or 1,000 races, run over 100 days, for which it would need an agreement with the horsemen and another change in the law. This season, Suffolk's meet began May 1, and will conclude Nov. 27. For 2005, Suffolk is looking to start April 30, and extend to early or mid-November.
"Frankly, 1,100 races is a little much," said Bob O'Malley, chief operating officer at Suffolk. "If we run 100 days, we can't fit them in in terms of keeping the purses up. I'll talk to the horsemen about it. We will get in 1,100 races this year. Something between 900-1,000 looks like the right number, depending on how many horses we have here. This year's change in the law allowed us to maintain purses. If we had to run 150 days, we would have had to cut purses 20 to 25 percent."
This has been less than a boom year for the local racing industry, but the tracks have been holding their own, especially through simulcasting.
"Buisness is, on the whole, off, but it's been manageably so," continued O'Malley. "We've been able to sustain our level of purses from last year, in excess of $100,000 per day on average, and I'm happy with that. I'm also happy with our racing surface. It's gotten good reviews from the horsemen, and we've had more horses on the grounds than the last number of years."
In an interesting move, Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H., which dropped thoroughbred racing in favor of harness racing following the 2002 season, ran three grass races Sept. 5, a Sunday, which is a dark day at Suffolk, that were well received. Rock management made it clear it could not hold a Sunday grass program next year without the cooperation of Suffolk, which stables the horses and carded the races for Rock. Whether Rock, which is committed to the standardbreds through 2006, will run any more thoroughbred races remains to be seen.
"We might plug in a few Sundays in the summer ourselves next season, so we can bring the meeting to a close a little earlier," said O'Malley. "This year, we're going to get to Nov. 27, but going too late is a dangerous thing to do. You want to avoid any winter weather, and, if you get too far into November, you have to make some adjustments to the track. I'd hate to do that. If you have any cancellations, you get drawn into December, and you've really put yourself in jeopardy.
"If we close the meet earlier in November, we'll keep the barn area open through the end of the month. We have no intention of asking everybody to clear out until they have a place to go. With the type of schedule we are running, we are depending more and more on our relationship with Tampa Bay Downs [which opens in December and accepts horses from Suffolk].
"When we first got involved with Rock, we thought they might come back with a short summer meet next year. I'm happy to discuss that. If Rock ran a meeting, we could run 50 days in the spring, and 50 days later in the summer. I'd work with them on that. It would be good for the horsemen. It's something I'd be happy to talk about."
Slot machines at the tracks, an issue that has been dormant of late, remains the elephant in the room. Though some in racing think the topic of slots may come up again in January, O'Malley does not agree.
"I'm not aware of any activity in the Senate," he said. "I'm not aware anything has changed. I don't see anything being done in the first three months of the year, anyway."
All racing legislation ends at the end of 2005.
"We have two months to go this season, and I hope we don't get hit in the head with a 2-by-4," said O'Malley. "All things considered, I'm pleased with the way the meeting has gone. Business has held up reasonably well. We took a big chance shutting down [Suffolk went from year-round racing to the May-November schedule] and having to reopen, but it seems to have worked.
"Other than slots, there's not an awful lot left to go into a racing bill. We're probably more in a defensive mode. We're hoping to maintain. We're hoping to be successful in coming up with a bill so that we don't get into temporary extensions of the law as we have before. It's hard to operate on that basis. We'll see what happens. The company is committed to racing as long as possible."
