Suffolk Downs

A six-alarm fire destroyed the press box and announcer's booth atop the historic grandstand at Suffolk Downs in East Boston Monday night. The former Massachusetts track was vacant at the time except for security personnel, and no one was injured in the blaze. As firefighters monitored hot spots and tried to determine a cause Tuesday morning, there was a sense of "it could have been worse" among neighbors and onlookers at the scene. Although the roof of the building sustained fire and water damage, the hulking steel-and-concrete structure built in...

Robert "Bobby" Raymond passed away Sunday at Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harbor, Fla., from septic shock. He was 74. Raymond trained 1,294 winners during his 43-year career and finished eighth in the 2020-2021 trainer's standings at Tampa Bay Downs. The longtime trainer suffered an infection in a cut on his leg and was rushed to the hospital last Friday. His condition gradually worsened over the next two days before he passed away at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. "He never stopped fighting. His heart was so big," Rob Raymond said...

Tom Creel, a well-respected East Coast-based racing secretary and official whose career spanned parts of five decades, died on Thanksgiving Eve from cardiac complications at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York. He was 64. Sam Elliott, a longtime friend and coworker, confirmed Creel's death to TDN Friday. He said Creel had suffered a heart attack several weeks ago. On Nov. 22 Creel underwent an eight-hour surgery to implant an artificial heart pump, but developed complications from that procedure and was unable to recover, Elliott said. Creel had taken over...

John T. Botty, a retired and well-respected New England trainer known for his attention to detail, patience, and knack for developing young horses, died suddenly Apr. 30 after suffering a stroke. Botty was 65 and lived in Pelham, New Hampshire. He had remained active in the sport as a bloodstock consultant after stepping away from daily work under racetrack shed rows in 2015. For the better part of three decades, Botty, together with his wife of 32 years, Kathleen, ran a successful, mid-sized racing stable based out of Suffolk Downs...

The New England racing community is mourning the loss of Patrick R. Lamberty, known for his work as a Suffolk Downs broadcast handicapper in the early 2000s, then later as the head of client management and sales for the Centennial Farms bloodstock and racing syndicate in his native Massachusetts. He was 43. Lamberty died Dec. 16, 2020, in Pompano Beach, Florida. But it was not until Feb. 2 that news of his death began circulating among friends via an online tribute archive hosted by a cremation company that provided services...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR In Sunday's TDN, we published Bill Finley's ode to shuttered racetracks, and asked others to try to beat his number of 28 at which he had attended live racing. Here are a few of the letters we received about the piece. What a wonderful and moving article from Bill Finley on defunct racetracks. I have no claim to even being close to Bill's record and certainly not to his great memories. When I was about 10 years old, I remember my folks taking us to Hialeah...

Do you remember Bowie? The Marshfield Fair? Or, how about Liberty Bell? I do. I've been to them all. Someone sent me a link the other day to a list of all the defunct racetracks in the country and it got me thinking how sad it was that I had been to so many that have disappeared into the ether. That and whether or not I hold some sort of unofficial record of having attended more former racetracks than anyone else. I have been to 28 North American tracks that...

An Appreciation, by T.D. Thornton The phrase "larger than life" doesn't do justice to describing Jim Hannon, the Runyonesque race caller known for his booming bass voice, charismatic showmanship, and roaring, motorboat-like laugh that resonated through the press boxes of New England racetracks since 1953. He died on Aug. 28 from natural causes at a hospice facility in Danvers, Massachusetts, after having recently suffered a fall. At age 92, he was believed to have been the nation's oldest retired Thoroughbred announcer. An entire generation of fans has evolved since "Big...

by Leo Vanderpot The good news about the destruction of Suffolk Downs racetrack (b. July 1935 / d. June 2019) is the recent report that the new construction at the site--a huge business and housing development--will be done entirely with union workers. This brings some comfort to me. It suggests that for an extended period of time before gentrification sets in with its ever-oozing imprint, those acres that in some mischievous way formed a portion of my youth will retain the blue collar spirit that always made the track accessible....