PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Wildlife Artist, ridden by Darren Nagle, leaps over a jump in a steeplechase race Saturday at Suffolk Downs.
It’s great to know Suffolk Downs, if even for three weekends this summer, is filled again with the sound of thundering hooves and cheers of horse racing fans.
More than 14,000 people came to the East Boston track Saturday to eat food truck cuisine and thrill to the sport of kings. Live racing returns Aug. 5 and 6 and Sept. 3 and 4, along with more food and entertainment.
Losing its bid to become a casino and racing complex cast a pall over Suffolk Downs with its panoramic track and rows of stables. Workers left to find new occupations while fans wondered why gambling and playing the horses in Eastie made less sense to state officials than gambling in Everett.
Suffolk Downs isn’t just a place where people worked and wagered to win or lose money. It was a way of life for people employed in the timeless world of horse racing. It was a place people built their lives around and counted on.
Nothing is as certain in life as change. But Suffolk Downs and Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere are shuttered monuments to a time when people found entertainment by coming together in a loud and exciting place.
Racing fans know the horses will leave Suffolk as summer fades. But racing’s brief revival at the track this year might set the stage for state gambling officials to ask if Suffolk has a viable future as a combination slot machine parlor and racetrack.
Maybe its future is multi-faceted with racing, gambling and sports venues hosted on Suffolk’s grounds. With its own Blue Line transit stop and access on one of the most direct routes from the North Shore to Boston, Suffolk is positioned to sustain several uses.
Perhaps a hotel and restaurant complex can be built on the sprawling parcel with or without slots. Maybe an amusement park or entertainment venue gets built next to the track, making Suffolk a Greater Boston destination with the added benefit of easy access to the city and limited live racing.
It’s conceivable Suffolk will fall to the wrecking ball and become the next housing or commercial development. Wonderland’s decaying facade suggests its future use as a development site is just around the corner.
But here’s hoping the fans, the developers and officials are not too quick to turn their backs on Suffolk’s storied history and abandon imaginative approaches to keeping that history alive.
