Since opening on July 10, 1935, Suffolk Downs has played host to some of Thoroughbred racing's greatest champions, including Triple Crown winners War Admiral, Whirlaway, and Assault, as well as other greats such as Seabiscuit, John Henry, and Cigar. In addition to these legendary horses, hall of fame jockeys George Woolf, Johnny Longden, Eddie Arcaro, Chris McCarron, Angel Cordero, and Jerry Bailey have all competed at the East Boston oval. The signature race at Suffolk Downs, the Massachusetts Handicap, maintains a prominent date on the Boston sports calendar. The list of heralded visitors to Suffolk Downs is in no way limited to the racing world. Entertainer Bing Crosby and television star Rin Tin Tin have made appearances, and the Beatles performed their final Boston show at Suffolk Downs in 1966. Through nearly two hundred images, Suffolk Downs revisits these monumental racehorses, personalities, and events.

Poetry. Photography. Melissa Shook came to Boston from New York in 1974 to teach photography at MIT. She soon discovered Suffolk Downs. Though she did not bet, she felt comfortable at the track, enjoying the sounds, the crowd and the people who worked with the horses. Over the next thirty years she documented her Suffolk Downs in photographs and poems concentrating on the trainers, hot walkers, exercise riders, horse shoers, dentists, those who delivered hay, feed, and ice, and the jockeys and their agents. Suffolk Downs, located in East Boston, opened in 1935 and flourished into the 1980s. The Beatles played there, and in 1969-1970 Bill Veeck, who is in baseball's Hall of Fame as an owner, managed the track. He wrote about his experiences in his book Thirty Tons a Day. In 1989 Suffolk Downs closed for two years. When it reopened the track came slowly back to life. Laura Hillenbrad's book Seabiscuit: An American Legend published in 2001 and the movie made from it, are credited with reviving interest in Suffolk Downs. "Melissa Shook's gift combines a documentary-photographer's eye and an ear perfectly pitched for vernacular speech. Her subject is the backside workers of the Suffolk Downs racetrack: the all too often broken down, troubled, bleak yet enduring lives of the hot-walkers, stall-muckers, horse-shoers, grooms and trainers. Out of intense concern for these mostly immigrant works she gives us her East Boston version of Dubliners, in speech that springs to life as vibrantly real as the satin pelt of a thoroughbred. Her book is a thrilling integration of common idiom, stoic clarity, and generous energy."--George Kalogeris

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. Now 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 a 15 billion betting industry. In fifteen 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. He got to know the raucously Runyonesque characters and the quirky personalities of the horses; he learned the tricks of the trade from trainers, owners, and jockeys; he witnessed the tragedies and small triumphs of racing lives lived below the radar. One recent season, he finally decided to write it all down. Not by a Long Shot is a deeply textured portrait of an industry where even the best in the business lose 75 percent of the time.

LIFE Magazine is the treasured photographic magazine that chronicled the 20th Century. It now lives on at LIFE.com, the largest, most amazing collection of professional photography on the internet. Users can browse, search and view photos of today’s people and events. They have free access to share, print and post images for personal use.

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. Now 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 a 15 billion betting industry. In fifteen 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. He got to know the raucously Runyonesque characters and the quirky personalities of the horses; he learned the tricks of the trade from trainers, owners, and jockeys; he witnessed the tragedies and small triumphs of racing lives lived below the radar. One recent season, he finally decided to write it all down. Not by a Long Shot is a deeply textured portrait of an industry where even the best in the business lose 75 percent of the time.