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New book is picture-perfect view of Suffolk's storied past By Ron Indrisano - 06/24/2005 Boston Globe July 10 will mark the 70th anniversary of Suffolk Downs, and director of public relations Christian Teja has found the perfect way to honor the occasion. Teja has compiled ''Suffolk Downs," a soft-cover book containing nearly 200 images that chronicle the history of the East Boston track. And that history is, indeed, storied. The book, to be published June 29 by Arcadia Publishing as part of the ''Images of Sports" series, covers more than just the Sport of Kings. Racing fans will enjoy the photos of Seabiscuit (1937), Whirlaway (1942), and Cigar (1995-96) winning the Massachusetts Handicap, but the book also contains shots of the Beatles performing in 1966, heavyweight champion Jim Braddock, the ''Cinderella Man," visiting in 1935, and Bing Crosby enjoying a day at the races in 1938. ''I was working with Dick Johnson, director of the Sports Museum, to put together a horse racing exhibit, which we opened in December [at the FleetCenter]," said Teja, 33, who has worked at Suffolk since 2002. ''He had done photo books of the Boston Garden and the Bruins, and he suggested I do one on Suffolk. When I started, I came across all sorts of photos. There were photos, some dating back to the 1940s, in a file cabinet in the press office. There were even photos stacked in the corners. ''I went through the historical chronology we publish in the media guide to give myself an idea of what to look for, then I went through the photo file. The Boston Public Library was also a big help. I went on their website, and they had over 100 images, including some collected from the 1930s. By and large, I got everything I could have wanted, including Seabiscuit and Whirlaway [who won the Triple Crown in 1941 for Calumet Farm]." Teja, who wrote the introduction, divided the book into decades, with chapters covering the 1930s to the present day. ''My favorite photos are from the actual construction of the track," he said of the project that employed more than 3,000 laborers and took 62 days to complete. ''I got them from track superintendent Steve Pini, whose father worked on it. Also, the crowd shots from the 1930s and 1940s were unbelievable. Men in suits and hats and women in dresses were absolutely packed throughout the plant." An eye-catching image is a poster promoting the appearance by the Beatles Aug. 18 , 1966 (for rock 'n' roll buffs, The Ronettes were the lead-in act). Top price for a reserved seat was a mere $5.75, and 25,000 showed up, many of them young girls who screamed throughout the entire performance, rendering the Fab Four practically inaudible. ''I purchased the poster online," said Teja. ''I bought it on eBay for $20." Teja also caught the crest of the wave with two great pictures of Braddock at the height of his fame. Braddock, a once-promising fighter fallen on hard times, came back from obscurity to knock out defending champion Max Baer June 13, 1935. He came to Suffolk the next month, in advance of a promotional appearance as a guest referee at a professional wrestling show at Braves Field. One photo shows Braddock shaking hands with Ira Hanford, one of Suffolk's leading jockeys, and the other shows him standing with Braves outfielder Wally Berger, who led the National League in '35 with 34 homers and 130 runs batted in. The story of Braddock has been popularized by the movie ''Cinderella Man." Both the film, and actor Russell Crowe, who plays Braddock, have received critical acclaim. ''I had no idea who Jim Braddock was," said Teja. ''I just saw a caption on the photo that said 'Braddock.' I did some research, and I found that, when he came to Suffolk, he had just won the championship. Ira Hanford rode Seabiscuit before he was famous, and his brother, Carl, rode Eddie Wrack, who won the first race ever run at Suffolk." There is also a picture taken at Saratoga of the Hanford brothers, who rode at Suffolk the first day. The Crosby pictures are interesting as well. They show the famed crooner on the backstretch holding a horse, and then in the box seats watching a race at Suffolk, one year after he was instrumental in founding Del Mar. But, thanks to the wildly popular book by Laura Hillenbrand, and the movie that received an Academy Award nomination, people are interested in Seabiscuit. The small horse with the big heart and his connections are well-represented. Seabiscuit was scheduled to confront the mighty War Admiral June 29 in the 1938 MassCap in one of the most anticipated matchups in racing history, but he was scratched 45 minutes before post, allegedly because of a minor injury, more likely because the track was muddy. There was a near riot, and, to make matters worse, War Admiral ran out of the money for the only time in his career, wiping out the grandstand. The fallout from the fiasco was so intense it led directly to the storied match race at Pimlico in November, won by Seabiscuit in an upset. If Seabiscuit had not been scratched from the MassCap, there never would have been a match race, which was the key to the book and the cornerstone of the movie. Most strikingly, in the book there is an image of two headlines, which illustrates the perils of publishing an evening newspaper at the time. On Page 1 of the Boston Evening Globe, ''Seabiscuit Faces Admiral as 60,000 fans jam Suffolk," read the main headline. The drop headline read, ''Awaited duel becomes reality." ''It's racing's version of 'Dewey defeats Truman' [in the Chicago Tribune]," said Teja. And no discussion of pictures from Suffolk Downs would be complete without a mention of the dramatic photo taken by late track photographer Henry Carfagna, who captured a man who ran on the track near the finish line of the 1966 Mayflower Stakes, while Happy Voter and Taunton charged to the wire noses apart. The shot captures the instant before the man was spun around between the horses as they sped past. He stayed on his feet, and, fortunately, no one was hurt. Happy Voter won the race, and, to this day, old-timers who bet on Taunton blame the intruder for the defeat Suffolk Downs book huge success By RON CODERRE - 09/25/2005 Norwich Bulletin Christian Teja of Newton, Mass. and formerly of Woodstock, had his literary work, "Suffolk Downs -- Images of Sports" released in June. In "Suffolk Downs," Teja takes the reader through a pictorial history of one of America's most noted Thoroughbred and Massachusetts' first racetrack. Construction of the track took only 62 days and was completed at a cost of approximately $2 million. Since opening on July 10, 1935, Suffolk Downs has played host to some of Thoroughbred racing's greatest champions. Triple Crown winners War Admiral, Whirlaway and Assault as well as other great horses such as Seabiscuit, John Henry and Cigar have graced the East Boston oval. Hall of Fame jockeys George Woolf, Johnny Longden, Eddie Arcaro, Chris McCarron, Angel Cordero and Jerry Bailey have all ridden mounts at Suffolk Downs. Its signature race, the Massachusetts Handicap, continues to attract throngs of racing fans through the turnstiles annually. Suffolk Downs has also entertained national and international celebrities such as Bing Crosby, Rin Tin Tin and the Beatles, who performed their final Boston show at the oval in 1966. Teja's 128-page pictorial history of Suffolk Downs is interestingly broken down with photos from every decade beginning in the 1930s and going through the present day. Each page is filled with captioned photos that entice the reader to keep turning to the next page and next chapter. Teja is the director of public and media relations at Suffolk Downs, a position he's held for the past four years. He also serves as the president of the New England Turf Writers Association. Prior to assuming his present position, he worked at ESPN in Bristol. He is a regular on the Eddie Andelman Show on Radio WEEI, which is co-hosted by the popular ex-Red Sox star Rico Petrocelli. Teja is a 1990 graduate of Woodstock Academy, where he played basketball, soccer and golf. He's a 1994 graduate of Boston College. He's the son of Ted and Geraldine Teja of Woodstock. |
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