Sports news from racingfigures.com / downs

The best of 2007: Invasor winning the Dubai World Cup; Rags to Riches winning the Belmont; and MassCap day at Suffolk Downs. Happy new year to all, and thanks so much for reading. Best wishes and good racing luck in 2008!...

- Good news from a resurgent Suffolk Downs: The track closed out its 100-day meet on Saturday, the first under owner Richard Fields, reporting big gains for the first time in several years. Average daily attendance was up 22 percent, on-track handle up 14 percent. "By every standard, it's been...

"It's been too long," track announcer Larry Collmus told the festive crowd of 19,191 at Suffolk Downs this afternoon as the field for the first Massachusetts Handicap run since 2004 was loaded in the gate for the 1 1/8 mile race. The bell rang: 3-5 favorite Fairbanks bobbled at the...

Jockey Richard Migliore talks with TVG's Christina Olivares. Asked after winning the Moseley Handicap aboard Afrashad ($2.40) if he'd learned anything about the track that would help him ride Fairbanks in the MassCap, jockey Richard Migliore replied, "The track's very honest. Today, it seems like you can come in...

It's MassCap day at Suffolk Downs and there's a buzz in the air, an excitement around the grandstand unlike anything since the last running of the Massachusetts Handicap in 2004. I arrived a few minutes before the track opened at 11:00 and found a restive gang of fans pressing against...

A field of eight was drawn today for Saturday's Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs: PPHorseJockeyML1Dr. PleasureVelasquez6-12PalladioDo Ramos12-13Who What WinBridgmohan15-14FairbanksMigliore7-55Shuffling MaddnesRojas12-16Fire StrikerKrigger30-17Evening AttireEspinosa5-18Brass HatMartinez5-2 Fairbanks, making his first start since setting the pace and finishing fourth behind Lawyer Ron in the Woodward, looks like a legitimate favorite with his early speed...

Leading Horse of the Year candidate Lawyer Ron tops the list of 34 nominations to the Massachusetts Handicap (PDF), which will be run for the first time since 2004 on September 22. Also nominated: Grasshopper (second to Street Sense in the Travers), King's Bishop winner Hard Spun, Magna Graduate, Brass...

Sensing an opportunity in the dispute between the newly-recognized Mashpee Wampanoags of Cape Code and the town of Middleborough over demands that the tribe pay for millions of dollars in infrastructure costs if it wants to build a casino, Boston mayor Tom Menino "gamely invited the tribe today to build...

T.D. Thornton, author of the excellent new book "Not by a Longshot," said many good and interesting things about slots, racing, and great horses in today's Blood Horse chat, but this exchange just might be the highlight: Peabody, MA: When I went to the MassCap when Cigar ran there was...

Reports the Boston Herald today: In a move that is already generating buzz in racing circles, Fields and his fellow track owners are weighing plans to spend well over $1 million on the event ... "Bringing back the historic MassCap is just one component of our extensive plan to return...

- "On this day in 1936, Tom Smith, an experienced horse trainer, spied an unlikely looking three-year-old Thoroughbred on the track at East Boston's Suffolk Downs." [Thanks to our friend Bill for the link.] - Trainer John Rigattieri "is on a winning streak not seen at Suffolk Downs since John...

- "On this day in 1936, Tom Smith, an experienced horse trainer, spied an unlikely looking three-year-old Thoroughbred on the track at East Boston's Suffolk Downs." [Thanks to our friend Bill for the link.] - Trainer John Rigattieri "is on a winning streak not seen at Suffolk Downs since John...