Voters to Weigh In on Racing Return at Great Barrington

Voters in Great Barrington, Mass., will have the chance to weigh in at a special town meeting Dec. 11 on the potential return of live Thoroughbred racing at the Fairgrounds after a 22-year absence. 

The former owner of Suffolk Downs, where the final live racing meet was held this past summer, has proposed revitalizing the Great Barrington Fairgrounds for live racing, perhaps as early as 2020. Sterling Suffolk Racecourse LLC, which retained its racing and simulcasting rights after the sale of the racetrack in East Boston in 2017, has executed a long-term lease with the current owners of the Great Barrington Fairgrounds, but no refurbishment of the property has begun.

The purpose of the town meeting is to allow residents to choose if they wish to move forward with a special referendum to then decide whether they want live racing in their jurisdiction.

After Sterling Suffolk announced its plans and re-upped the lease with the Fairgrounds owners, some residents began to push back, citing a variety of concerns including racehorse safety and the recent rash of deaths, animal cruelty, environmental pollution, and traffic woes, and the opposition continued to gather steam.

In October, a petition was circulated to hold the December meeting, and although only 200 signatures were required, close to 500 registered voters signed on, according to reports. 

Town officials did not return calls asking for comment.

Chip Tuttle, the COO of SSR, was also unavailable for comment but has repeatedly stated that significant legislative relief is required before SSR would move forward with plans to operate a meet at the Fairgrounds. One of the components in a multi-pronged racing bill pending before state lawmakers would allow SSR to continue to simulcast in Boston while conducting a live race meet across the state at a different venue.

The legislation, which would, in effect, rewrite the state's racing laws, is sitting in committee at the Statehouse.

When local residents learned this bill does not include a way for them to have a voice in whether live racing returns to the Great Barrington Fairgrounds, which last held a live meet in 1998 when the old New England circuit was still viable, they pushed for the special town meeting to decide on the referendum.

Meanwhile, SSR did not file a 2020 live dates application with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission by the Oct. 1 deadline. At the time, Tuttle explained it would have been impossible for SSR to do so by state law because it is not the owner of the property.

Gaming commissioners have expressed a willingness to work with any potential developers to restore live racing in the state, perhaps as early as next year, and there is also a bill pending that would expand their decision-making powers.