Suffolk Downs Plans Lucrative Incentives for 2017 Meet

Suffolk Downs begins its short 2017 live meet July 8 with a two-day weekend racing festival format, lucrative purses, full fields, and generous incentives for every participating owner and trainer.

Though Monmouth Park plans to ban horses who ship to the Boston area oval from returning to the New Jersey stable area—with an exception for Massachusetts-bred horses competing in stakes races restricted to state-breds—the policy has not adversely affected entries. 

Renowned conditioners including Wesley Ward, Christophe Clement, Linda Rice, and John Servis are among those sending horses for the 11-race Saturday and 10-race Sunday cards. Field size averages just over nine horses per race.

Trainers are eligible for a $400 per starter bonus, and there are owner's rewards of $500 for horses finishing first through fifth place (on top of the purse money). The owner's reward for each horse who comes in sixth all the way back to last will see the bonus bumped to $1,500.

The bonuses remain in effect for all six days of the meet, which resumes Aug. 5-6 and Sept. 2-3.

"We anticipate paying about $500,000 per day in purses and participation awards over the six days and we are very happy with the way the cards filled for this weekend and for the support that horsemen continue to show for our racing program," said Suffolk chief operating officer Chip Tuttle. 

This year the takeout structure switched from 15% on all wagering to 16% on straight bets and 19% on the exotics.

The highlight of Saturday's 11-race card, which features six turf races, is the $75,000 Jill Jellison Memorial Dash Stakes for fillies and mares, 3 and older, traveling five furlongs on the grass. The race, named for the pioneering local female rider who died from breast cancer in 2015, drew a field of nine. Spellker, a 3-year-old daughter of City Zip   trained by Ward and owned in part by former New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker, will draw plenty of attention. 

During the two days of live action, there also will be three stakes races for state-breds, each offering a $50,000 purse: the African Prince Stakes, the Rise Jim Stakes, and the Isadorable Stakes. Post time each day is 12:35 p.m. EDT.