SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. -- Yours truly will be here at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Whitney and the four undercard stakes, and I will be happy and grateful to be here. Still, a not so small part of me wishes I could be 204 miles to the east, in East Boston, Mass., at Suffolk Downs.Saturdays card at Suffolk, a mixed bag of 10 races topped by the relatively rich for the circumstances $75,000 Drumtop Stakes, is not the lure for me. The attraction for me is this card will be one of only six this year at Suffolk, and it could be one of the last. Ever. Suffolk has been at deaths door since it lost out on a bid for a critical casino license a couple of years ago, and no one really knows how much longer it can go on, even with a very limited racing schedule. And this is very painful for those who well remember how wild the Massachusetts and New England racing scene was years ago, a racing environment that I cut my eyeteeth on.I first went to Suffolk in the late 1960s, and I have Bill Veeck (yes, baseballs Bill Veeck) to thank for it. Veeck headed a group that purchased Suffolk in that period, and one of the first things he did was get legislation passed allowing minors accompanied by an adult into the track. At that time, you had to be 21 to get into a track in New England. Now free to attend, I tagged along to Suffolk with my dad, a regular who bet on anything and everything day and night, and was bitten by the bug immediately.Soon after, by 1970 or 1971, I often cut my last class in high school, took the trolley to Suffolk with the tallest kid I knew because he looked old enough to get a bet in, and hid in the deepest, darkest bowels of the grandstand so that my dad wouldnt see me. My dad, who apparently wanted a different life for me, had a box in the clubhouse. And if he caught me at the track on my own, Id be in for it big time.New England in the 1970s was an amazing place for a kid to become immersed in this game. More recent converts might be surprised, and a bit envious, to know that there was day/night Thoroughbred racing all year long, not to mention tons of Greyhound and harness racing, too. But it was all about Thoroughbred racing for me, and for me there was Suffolk or Rockingham Park in New Hampshire in the afternoon, Lincoln Downs or Narragansett Park in Rhode Island at night, and Scarborough Downs at night in the summer in Maine, where the mosquitoes were as big as what passes these days for dogs.There was also Green Mountain in Vermont, the track that was the first east of the Mississippi to offer Sunday racing.And of course, there were the infamous Massachusetts Fairs. The fairs, bullring tracks at actual week-long town fairs, was a circuit of the cheapest racing imaginable that redefined the term larceny, and where the most infirm horses in the world would somehow manage two or three starts a week. At its peak, the fair circuit consisted of Brockton, Marshfield, Weymouth, Northhampton, Great Barrington, and Berkshire Downs.I wouldnt trade the education I received at these tracks for anything. Or the fun I had. Suffolk and Lincoln or Gansett doubleheaders were commonplace, as were Rockingham and Scarborough doubleheaders. Heck, on some Labor Days, tripleheaders were made. Rockingham always ran a five-race morning card on Labor Day followed by an afternoon card, but you could (and I did) catch Rocks morning card, take in the afternoon card at Suffolk (which foolishly went head to head with Rockingham some years), and then shoot down to Lincoln or Gansett, whichever track was racing.There were also plenty of Saratoga and Green Mountain doubleheaders made. I always found it disconcerting that the jocks at Green Mountain would often play volleyball in the infield in front of the tote board before the races, as friendly as can be, like a family, and then would go out and ride, presumably against each other, for their small cut of a $900 purse.Suffolk was referred to as the Oceanside Oval, which I guess it technically is, but it was never to be confused with Del Mar. The old Rockingham was called the Saratoga of New England. The Rockingham Park prior to the 1980 blaze that took it down was really very nice, but it wasnt Saratoga. And I never had a vivid enough of an imagination to picture Narragansett as host of the famous match race between Alsab and Whirlaway, but it was. Nevertheless, these were great old places.The very first day I received my drivers license, I commandeered by dads car and drove to the Brockton Fair to play the card. And I was there with my dad the last day Berkshire Downs, which at one time claimed Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin as part owners, ever raced. It had to be the last day. There was a giant sinkhole on the track apron that appeared to be expanding so quickly that, given another day, it might have claimed the actual grandstand.With the exception of Suffolk, all of these Thoroughbred tracks have gone the way of Berkshire Downs. They are all gone.I could go on, but I now realize that maybe its a good thing I wont be at Suffolk Saturday. 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After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round.Petr Petrov and Michael Perez will square off in a lightweight world title elimination bout on Sept. 30 in Indio, California, Golden Boy Promotions announced Friday.The Fantasy Springs Resort Casino fight, which will headline on Golden Boys Boxeo Estelar series on Estrella TV, will put the winner in position to become the mandatory challenger for 135-pound world title held by Anthony Crolla (31-4-3, 13 KOs), 29, of England, although he is scheduled to defend against former titleholder and Golden Boy fighter Jorge Linares (40-3, 27 KOs), 30, of Venezuela, on Sept. 24 in Manchester, England.Michael Perez has been a very exciting fighter to watch rise through the ranks in the lightweight division, one of the hottest weight classes in boxing right now, Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya said. We also know Petrov as an experienced and destructive fighter who wont go down without an all-out brawl.Petrov-Perez will replace the original headline fight, which was to involve featherweight Andrew Cancio. Golden Boy pulled him off the card this week for the opportunity to face 2012 U.S. Olympian and blue chip prospect Joseph Diaz on the Canelo Alvarez-Liam Smith HBO PPV undercard on Sept. 17 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.The fight will be by the far the biggest so far for Perez (24-1-2, 11 KOs), 26, of Newark, New Jersey, who is unbeaten in 10 consecutive fights (9-0-1) since a sixth-round knockout loss in 2012 to Omar Figueroa Jr., who went on to win a lightweight world title.This is another step up in my career to becoming a world champion, Perez said. I am very excited for this fight and I feel very motivated. I have been waiting for a fight like this, to be challenged at such a high caliber keeps me focused and motivated. Petr is a touugh guy and that has been what has carried him to where he is today, but I am smart fighter and will be prepared to box when I want to and brawl when I want to.ddddddddddddThe skills I have and the plan we have to execute are what will determine the victory for this fight. Both Petr and I know whats at stake here: the winner of our fight will be the mandatory for the winner of the world championship unification fight between Jorge Linares and Anthony Crolla. I am ready for the challenge.The 33-year-old Petrov (37-4-2, 17 KOs), a native of Russia who fights out of Spain, received a junior welterweight world title shot in 2011 but was knocked out in the fourth round by Marcos Maidana, who retired last week.But since dropping a unanimous 12-round decision in 2013 to Dejan Zlaticanin, who won a vacant lightweight world title on June 11, Petrov has won five fights in a row. Three of those wins came en route to Petrovs winning the 2014 ESPN Boxcino lightweight tournament.Michael Perez is an experienced fighter, Petrov said. He is one of my tougher challenges, but I feel that my experience in being in bigger fights has me prepared.This is for the mandatory challenger in the WBA lightweight world championship and I know this will be a good fight. At the end of the day, it will be about who is prepared the best and may the best man win.Said Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions, Petrovs promoter: This is a big opportunity for Petr, which is well deserved. He knows, with a win, he will become the mandatory challenger and we know that he is a championship-level fighter and we expect a great performance on Sept. 30. ' ' '