Endgame for Suffolk Downs

REVERE – John Werner has worked at Suffolk Downs for 54 years, raising eight children on the salary he made at the track, but Saturday will be the last day the Lynn resident introduces live racing bettors to the thrill of winning or the letdown of losing.?They tell me they are sending me home for the last time,” Werner said Thursday.The wagering counter where Werner works is one of 850 jobs in Suffolk Downs doomed to end with the state gambling commission?s decision to approve a casino license for Wynn Everett. Simulcasting – betting on live televised racing at other tracks – continues into December, Suffolk announced last week, but race horses will round the dirt track in front of the Suffolk grandstand for the last time on Saturday.?It?s not an easy time for the workers and the horsemen. For a lot of people, it?s a way of life,” said Suffolk Chief Operating Officer Chip Tuttle.Tuttle invested part of his career into Suffolk Downs? 160-acres. He worked at the track from 1992 to 1998 before pursuing his own business and returning to Suffolk in 2007. Between 2007 and this year, track owners have invested $60 million, Tuttle said, in keeping horse racing at Suffolk Downs.The days of bettors flocking to Suffolk and making their bets with Werner and other track workers have given way to a racing industry where different forms of betting exist, including online betting.?The revenue to the operator has diminished significantly; it?s almost impossible to meet expenses,” Tuttle said.Werner, 79, plans to spend time watching televised races after he stops working at Suffolk, but 19-year track employee Doris Grillo said she will need to find another job after Suffolk closes. She said she will miss her work friends and track regulars who know her by her first name.The Saugus resident had never been to a race track before she started working at Suffolk. The job introduced her to a world of thundering hooves and bettors riding emotional roller coasters, where certain betting windows and grandstand seats are considered lucky.?It?s a fun place. I don?t know where all these people are going to go,” Grillo said.That is a question Tuttle cannot readily answer. He said track workers – especially horse grooms, trainers and stable workers – don?t have skills that can be easily transferred to other jobs. He said worker assistance and job retraining officials have met with track employees to find ways to help them.Tuttle said track executives are keeping “an open mind” in reviewing proposals to extend live racing, but said costs associated with the track make the prospect of extending horse racing beyond Saturday uncertain.?We?re looking at Saturday a little like a living wake,” he said.Steve Iannone has been betting at Suffolk Downs since 1973, winning thousands of dollars on a single wager and watching in agony as a favorite horse loses a “photo finish.”?It?s like getting kicked in the shins,” he said.The East Boston resident will bet on Saturday, but he doesn?t know what he will do with his Saturdays and an occasional weekday once the track closes.?I guess I?ll go to the gym,” Iannone said.