Not by a Long Shot--A Season at a Hard-Luck Horse Track
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The great myth of horse racing is that the game is the regal and royal Sport of Kings. It isn’t. Not by a long shot.
Anyone who doubts this need look no further than Suffolk Downs, a once-proud racecourse graced in its glory years by boisterous throngs and champions such as Seabiscuit. But the blue-collar East Boston track is one of many that have fallen on hard times. These days “Sufferin’ Downs” is where grizzled Thoroughbreds come to end their careers, hopeful young jockeys aspire against daunting odds to begin them, and diehard fans cheer, curse and gamble on the entire fascinating spectacle.
These bit players are not just cogs of a single, struggling horse track. They are the unseen supporting cast for an entire $15 billion betting industry. In 15 years as a racing reporter and press box personality, T.D. Thornton gained access to remote corners of racetrack life off limits to the general public. One recent season, he finally decided to write it all down.
The way these raucously Runyonesque characters play the game might not be the prettiest. But the fact that small-time racing remains alive at hardscrabble tracks all across the country has to count for something, and that “something” is embodied in Not By A Long Shot, a deeply textured portrait of an industry where even the best in the business lose 75 percent of the time.
Anyone who doubts this need look no further than Suffolk Downs, a once-proud racecourse graced in its glory years by boisterous throngs and champions such as Seabiscuit. But the blue-collar East Boston track is one of many that have fallen on hard times. These days “Sufferin’ Downs” is where grizzled Thoroughbreds come to end their careers, hopeful young jockeys aspire against daunting odds to begin them, and diehard fans cheer, curse and gamble on the entire fascinating spectacle.
These bit players are not just cogs of a single, struggling horse track. They are the unseen supporting cast for an entire $15 billion betting industry. In 15 years as a racing reporter and press box personality, T.D. Thornton gained access to remote corners of racetrack life off limits to the general public. One recent season, he finally decided to write it all down.
The way these raucously Runyonesque characters play the game might not be the prettiest. But the fact that small-time racing remains alive at hardscrabble tracks all across the country has to count for something, and that “something” is embodied in Not By A Long Shot, a deeply textured portrait of an industry where even the best in the business lose 75 percent of the time.