This is the twelfth of a major series of articles concerning racetracks in the USA. We continue our review of USA racetracks with a further look at closed tracks in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts –
Closed –
Agawam Park
The one mile Agawam Park racetrack in Springfield was operational from 1935 to 1938 for both thoroughbreds and standardbreds. In 1934 the owners of Agawam Bowles Airport were forced to sell being financially challenged due to the Great Depression. The purchasers spent $1m turning the old airport into a horse racing track with pari mutual betting.
The old aeroplane hangars were used as stables and a grandstand was built. In 1935 the great thoroughbred Seabiscuit broke the track record by winning the Springfield Handicap. Following the outlawing of pari mutual betting in Massachusetts the track was closed in November 1938 and part of the site was converted into the two furlong Riverside Park speedway track.
Hampden Park
Hampden Park (also known as Pynchon Park and League Park), was a sports venue in Springfield, Massachusetts. Opened in 1853 by the Hampden Agricultural Society and destroyed by fire in 1966. The venue hosted various events including horse racing, bicycle racing, circuses, firework displays, athletic track meets, college football (including several editions of the Harvard-Yale football rivalry) and baseball – with Springfield Ponies, Tips, Green Sox, Hampdens, Nats, Rifles, Cubs and Giants playing there over the years.
Located a five minute walk from the centre of Springfield township bounded by the Connecticut River, the railroad tracks and Plainfield/West Street (North End Bridge). On the 10 – 13 October 1853 it was the location of the first national horse show held in North America.
Inaugurated in 1857, the first track was an egg shaped half mile circuit. Horsemen particularly disliked it due to the short thirty degree bank to the first turn making it difficult for the then high wheeled sulkies. That year Flora Temple beat Lancet in a saddle trot with her best heat in T2:32.0.
Exhibitions were in held 1858, 1859 and 1860 before all racing ceased in 1861 due to the American Civil War during which time Hampden Park was used for muster by the 10th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Later used as a baseball field where in 1869 baseball’s first openly professional team the Cincinnati Red Stockings played against the Springfield Mutuals with Cincinnati winning 80-5 en route to a perfect 65-0 season. A few years later several National Association (precursor to modern Major League Baseball) games were played here – first the short-lived Middletown Mansfield’s in 1872 and later for one game each year in 1873 and 1875, the Boston Red Stocking, now known as the Atlanta Braves played at Hampden Park.
In 1868 the first race meeting was held under the joint management of the Springfield Club and Hampden Park Agricultural Society. The track extended to one mile in circumference in 1870 with Grand Circuit racing commencing in 1873. Hampden Park was the setting for the Springfield Bicycle Club’s second international meeting in September 1883. The first a year earlier attracted 12,000 spectators with participants setting a national record for attendance.
The New York Clipper on 17 September 1887 reported on the closing meeting of the Grand Trotting Circuit at Hampden Park, opened 6 September, lasting four days. The attendance throughout was fair and the weather good but the track on the third day was somewhat soft owing to rain during the preceding night.
Grand Circuit racing where several horses attempted to beat their own or world marks at Hampden Park –
- Johnston 1888 : tried to beat 2:06¾, ran 2:12.0; next day attempted to run a quarter mile in under thirty seconds, ran 29¼ seconds; year later ran 2:10.0, a record for high wheel sulkies
- Nancy Hawks, took three seconds off Hampden Park track record in 1893, running 2:08.0 mile using one of the first low wheel sulkies
Grand Circuit racing ceased visiting Hampden Park after Nancy Hawk’s mile with the track closing four years later in 1897.
Mystic Park
The one mile Mystic Park located in South Medland, Boston opened in 1866 with Grand Circuit racing commencing in 1867 lasting until after the 1894 contest. The old Mystic Park Race Track was the venue for many great Grand Circuit race meets back in its day.
Goldsmith Maid became the first trotter to better 2:15 when her T2:14.0 on 2 September 1874 was the fastest of five championship miles she trotted that season. After Horace E. Willis assumed management in 1887, six meetings were held each season including the Breeders meeting, the last seasonal meeting held no later than 30 October annually.
In 1894 a low wheel sulky contest was held at Mystic Park between three great pacing stallions in Directum, Arion and Nelson for a stake of $15,000, with Directum winning in a best time of 2:10.0. The final meetings were held at Mystic Park in 1897.
Northampton (NMP)
The half mile oval, 431ft straight Three County Fairgrounds racetrack in Northampton opened on Labour Day 1 September 1943. It remained operating as part of the six fair horse racing circuit that included Marshfield, Topsfield, Berkshire Downs, Great Barrington and Brockton involving both thoroughbred and standardbred racing. The Massachusetts Sires Stakes for two and three year olds were run here in 2004. Northampton was the final survivor from this circuit whose last horse race was run on 11 September 2005. The Fair continues to operate on the grounds each year as it has since 1818.
September 1943 marked the return of racing to Western Massachusetts with racing always conducted on Labour Day. While dates changed over the years with some years starting on Labour Day and others ending that day, it always ran a Labour Day card. Earlier the Northampton Driving Park held races as part of the Yankee Circuit meet at Northampton e.g. 1935.
Northampton was known as a track where to get to the infield you went through a tunnel under the first turn. The infield had betting windows, bathrooms and a beer stand near the finish line leaving most of the infield wide open. The old grandstand was able to seat 1,800 overlooking the racetrack and the outdoor show ring, one of two arenas used for horse shows. The grounds had ample parking with free admission to the racetrack.
By 2012 the old barns had been levelled leaving no doubt racing would never return with three giant barns still sitting in the back straight used for horse events at Northampton. The old judge’s tower remains but the tote board and infield betting area are gone. The tunnel between the grandstand area and infield is now all fenced in, the track itself is still there with bits and pieces of the inner and outer rails in place. The Racing Hall of Fame is tucked away in a little corner of an aging agricultural barn.
Suffolk Downs
Located in East Boston, the original Suffolk Park track opened on a half mile circuit in 1859 before closing in 1890. Rejuvenated as a thoroughbred track in the 1930’s at 525 McClellan Highway under the auspices of the Eastern Racing Association, it took just sixty two days to open as Suffolk Downs. Following the legalisation of pari mutual betting by the State government, the Boston Record announced the opening of Massachusetts’s first permanent thoroughbred racecourse on 10 July 1935.
Constructed on approximately two hundred acres of landfill, the $2m track involved a workforce of more than 3,000 labourers, wielding twenty four power shovels, thirty six bulldozers and 638 trucks. The country’s first concrete grandstand accommodating 16,000 was separated by a horse path that connected the track to the paddock behind from the then largest clubhouse in the world seating 5,000.
With 1960s ownership changes the open air grandstand was enclosed and clubhouse linked together to expand spectator capacity with a new paddock and walking ring opened between the track and grandstand. More importantly for this story however was the introduction of harness racing at Suffolk Downs in the autumn of 1959 on the mile track. Sparked by Judge Pappas and headed by general manager Earl F Gibson, Suffolk Downs had to be replanned and remade prior to the advent of evening harness racing.
Hosting harness racing from 1959 to 1970 during autumn meets plus a one off meeting on 9 September 1997 for Massachusetts Sires Stakes races. Harness racing legends such as Joe O’Brien raced in New England (Boston) when he first ventured to the United States from his native Canada as did Jim Doherty and Bill O’Donnell. O’Brien’s visits possibly started prior to 1959 initially at Bay State Raceway/Foxboro, another defunct Massachusetts harness track. Other New England regulars including Ted Wing, John Hogan, Art Nason, Bert Beckwith and Ken Heeney raced at Suffolk Downs. Major races included Atlantic Seaboard circuit features and a one off year (post main harness meetings closure) of the 1997 Massachusetts Sires Stakes series.
Even the Beatles played a concert at Suffolk Downs before its final harness racing meet in 1970. Later concerts included Elvis Costello, Aerosmith and others. Suffolk Downs began to struggle to maintain its attendance figures in 1970’s. Racing dates extended considerably to more than 100, then 150 before reaching 200 by 1976. With the legalisation of lotteries and sweepstakes together with other entertainment and leisure options, crowd numbers fell and revenues reduced.
Numerous ownership changes didn’t stabilise Suffolk Downs fortunes and by the mid-1980s insouciant management, recurrent race-fixing allegations and low quality horses made it the poorest run thoroughbred track in America. It was only a matter of time before the track closed on 30 December 1989. Its comeback came courtesy of new owners Sterling Suffolk Racecourse LLC and after infrastructure improvements totalling millions of dollars it reopened on 1 January 1992.
After a short period of ascendency, Suffolk Downs faced a number of regulatory issues and competition from casinos in neighbouring states in the late 1990’s with attendances and betting starting a gradual decline. By 2014, Suffolk Down’s owners had been unable to obtain a casino licence after lengthy attempts to do so. In due course New England’s only remaining thoroughbred venue at Suffolk’s Downs closed for good with its final race date being 30 June 2019.
Next Article : Massachusetts – part three
Peter Craig
19 October 2022
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
