Suffolk Downs is a thoroughbred race track in East Boston, Massachusetts. The track is a 1-mile (1.6 km) dirt oval with a seven-furlong inner turf track. The Massachusetts Handicap, or "MassCap", is a $500,000, flat thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds and up held annually at Suffolk Downs but the race has not been held since 2008.
Suffolk Downs opened in 1935, a year after parimutuel betting was legalized in Massachusetts. The first Massachusetts Handicap was also held that year. On August 18, 1966, The Beatles played a concert before 24,000 fans on the track's infield. Between 1990 and 1991, there was no racing at Suffolk Downs. In 1992, the track was reopened and in 1995, the MassCap returned from a six-year hiatus.
In 2008, Suffolk Downs became the first race track in the country to implement a zero-tolerance policy towards horse slaughter. The policy states that if a horse from Suffolk Downs is sold for slaughter, the trainer and owner of that horse will be banned from the grounds for life. Suffolk Downs, the Fields Family Foundation and the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation established a home for retired racehorses at the Plymouth County Sheriff's Farm in Plymouth, MA, where inmates from the Plymouth County Correctional Facility care for the horses.
June - November
Main Track: One mile, oval.
Distance from last turn to finish line: 955 feet.
Turf Course: Seven furlongs, oval.
1:15pm
SD
Exotic
$2 Daily Double on first two races and last two races
$1 Exacta and Trifecta on all races
50-cent Pick Three on races 3-4-5 and final three races
50-cent Pick Four on last four races
10-cent Superfecta on ALL races
Sterling Suffolk Racecourse, LLC
525 William F McClellan Highway
Boston, MA 02128
Website: www.suffolkdowns.com
