Alas and Alack: There Will Be No Fall Meeting At Suffolk

It's a Bad Day at Black Rock. Bill Veeck, baseball and horse racing impresario, has lost the first round of his fight to bring major league horse racing to the Boston area in the fall.

When Veeck bought out the twenty-four racing dates of Berkshire Downs two months ago, horseplayers were overjoyed. The reality of a fall meeting at Suffolk Downs seemed virtually assured. Since then, Veeck, a brilliant entrepreneur, has been trying to find his way through the local politicians version of the Porteus maze test.

Finding the cheeze has not been easy. The running surface of the maze could be defined in racetrack terms as heavy, composed of two parts quagmire and one part bog. The first people to lose their feathers over Veeck's proposed fall meeting were the track owners of Rhode Island who had also planned a fall meeting. Depending heavily on many Boston area bettors for their revenue, it was in their best interests to block the Suffolk Downs fall meeting. But, they had no jurisdiction in Massachusetts.

Now the fun begins. The Rhode Island boys said that they would schedule their races at night. This united the harness racers and dog racers lobby in Massachusetts who stood to lose money, so they thought, by having to compete against the thoroughbreds of Rhode Island at night. This combined lobby defeated the proposed daytime fall meeting of Suffolk Downs. Thus, during the fall their will be no daytime racing in this state of any sort--no dogs, no trotters, no horses.

It is not apparent that people who bet on the horses also bet on the dogs. It is not apparent that people who bet on the trotters bet on the dogs. It is apparent that Rhode Island, which depends largely on Massachusetts residents, should be allowed a seven month racing season while the remaining five are split between Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Bill Veeck signed a midget to play major league baseball. He gave a yacht to one of the outstanding pitchers on his team. This spring various lucky bettors received prizes at Suffolk Downs--from a case of champagne to a steer. It is unfortunate that a man of such rare promotional genius should be fettered by local politics. In the end Veeck's way will bring more money to the state coffers than anyone else's way, and that is what the state is after anyway, isn't it?

(We regret that the Scientist, heartbroken over the loss of the prospective fall meeting at Suffolk, has been unable to complete his racing selections for today. --The Editors)