| Date | Race | Purse | Age/Sex | Dist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2018 | |||||
| Isadorable S. | $50,000g | 4&up, f/m | 6f | Details | |
| African Prince S. | $50,000g | 3yos | 5.5f | Details | |
| Rise Jim S. | $50,000g | 4&up | 6f | Details | |
| July 2018 | |||||
| Drumtop S | $100,000 | 3yo, f | 8f T | ||
| August 2018 | |||||
| Jill Jellison Memorial Dash | $100,000 | 3&up, f/m | 5f T | ||
In addition to offering purses of over $500,000 per day and lucrative starter incentives for trainers and owners, Suffolk Downs has established a $5,000 Jockey Challenge for each weekend of live racing this summer.
The management team of Suffolk Downs and two New England horsemen's associations cut a deal for a long-term lease of the Great Barrington Fairgrounds to restore the former track and conduct live racing there after the Boston landmark closes
Sterling Suffolk Racecourse, the company that operates Thoroughbred racing at Suffolk Downs, has reached a long-term lease agreement with the owners of Great Barrington Fairgrounds to begin racing there as soon as 2019.
Monmouth Park officials intend to continue their policy of prohibiting horses stabled there from shipping to compete at Suffolk Downs in Boston and then returning to the backside in New Jersey in 2018.
Suffolk Downs operator Suffolk Sterling Racecourse and the New England chapter of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association have entered into a partnership to develop and build a racetrack in Massachusetts and restore full-time racing.
A group of former minority owners of Suffolk Downs filed a lawsuit in Boston against Richard Fields' Coastal Development SSR LLC, alleging they were stiffed on their share of the proceeds from the sale of the 161-acre property for $155 million.
Despite not filing for live 2018 racing dates in Massachusetts by the Oct. 1 deadline, The Stronach Group maintains it still wants to expand its influence into New England in the future.
As Suffolk Downs concluded a successful 2017 live racing season of eight days Oct. 1, the pressing question on the minds of many was whether live racing would return next year to New England. The answer is in the affirmative.
Suffolk Downs will add an additional pair of days to the 2017 live racing calendar after track management and the New England affiliate of the HBPA hammered out a deal to fund the purses with money from uncashed parimutuel tickets.
Massachusetts lawmakers voted to extend the current statute authorizing and governing live racing and simulcasting in the state on the evening of July 26, thus avoiding a shutdown of the entire horse racing industry in the state.
Tim Ritvo, The Stronach Group's chief operating officer, met with racetrack owners, state legislators, and Massachusetts gaming commissioners July 24 to discuss the possibility of converting a former greyhound track into a Thoroughbred venue.
Massachusetts horsemen achieved a major victory when lawmakers reached compromise on the $40 billion 2018 budget bill that eliminates $400 million in spending yet leaves intact a significant portion of the money in the Race Horse Development Fund.
Suffolk Downs begins its short 2017 live meet July 8 with a two-day weekend racing festival format, lucrative purses, full fields, low takeout for bettors, and generous incentives for every participating owner and trainer.
As Suffolk Downs readies to open for its six days of racing this year, track officials were hard hit with the news that horses stabled at Monmouth Park will not be allowed to return to the stable area there if they are shipped to compete in Boston.
With the Race Horse Development Fund, which was created to give the struggling Massachusetts horse racing and breeding industry a lifeline, now in serious peril, Thoroughbred horsemen traveled to the state capitol in Boston to lobby lawmakers June 7.
The sale of Suffolk Downs to a major Boston real estate development company was green-lighted by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission at a public hearing March 30, but the deal will not adversely affect the six-day live meet planned for this summer.
The owners of Suffolk Downs have sent a document to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission asking for formal approval of the sale of the property to a major Boston-based real estate development company.
There is no agreement in place to sell Suffolk Downs to a real estate developer, but the property remains on the market, according to the track's management.
While there are no guarantees, the door has been left open for Suffolk Downs to continue to offer a limited number of live racing days beyond the 2017 season.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission settled a long and acrimonious dispute over simulcasting revenues between the management teams of Suffolk Downs and Raynham Greyhound Park Oct. 13 by ruling in favor of the Thoroughbred track.
While the Suffolk Downs ownership group moves forward with plans to redevelop the property as real estate, it intends to again host an abbreviated Thoroughbred meet next summer.
Suffolk Downs will host the third and final of three weekends of live racing Sept. 3-4 for its 2016 racing season.
Monmouth Park said it has received an anonymous contribution of $60,000 for its racehorse aftercare program, and thus will end a policy of charging $1,000 per horse that leaves the grounds to race at Suffolk Downs and then returns.
The financial penalty recently imposed by the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association on Monmouth Park-stabled trainers who run at Suffolk Downs and then try to return did not keep anyone away from the starting gate in Massachusetts Aug. 6.
East Boston, Mass. track will host the second of three scheduled live racing weekends.
