Tom Creel, a prominent East Coast racing secretary and official whose career spanned five decades, died on Thanksgiving night of heart complications at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York. He is 64 years old.
Sam Elliott, a longtime friend and colleague, confirmed Creel’s death as TDN Friday. He said Creel had suffered a heart attack a few weeks ago. On November 22, Creel underwent an eight-hour surgery to implant an artificial heart pump, but developed complications from that procedure and was irreversible, Elliott said.
Creel took over as race secretary at the Finger Lakes this past spring. But he is perhaps best remembered for his decades of work in the ranks in various racing offices at the New England racetracks. He was the Suffolk Downs race secretary from 2008 until the track closed in 2019, and then he was the assistant racing secretary at Parx and racing secretary at Delaware Park.
Creel has also worked as a racing official at Penn National and Tampa Bay Downs, and occasionally as a chariot dealer. Creel was also race secretary for the last two stops around the New England county fairs – the Brockton Fair and the Northampton Fair – before the semi-finalists were defunct in 2004.
“Tommy is really good at his job and he loves it,” says Elliott. “As a race secretary, just bringing the races together, there is no one better. I think it’s just the expo experience. ”
Elliott is alluding to the impromptu, deadline-driven nature of his job at the seasonal bullrings. At the New England fairs, where horses typically run on the same day that entries for the next race day are drawn, it is not uncommon for the racing office to refuse to use a condition book and instead Enter there just ask anyone who wants to run to enter theirs. horse. In those cases, the race secretary must build races based on the limited numbers available, and Creel has a knack for putting together competitive races that don’t belittle the trainer or outdo the horses. their.
“When he was race secretary, if you stepped on your horse, he would find a place for you to run – that was just the way it was,” said Elliott.
“We met in Rockingham in April 1986, and it was lightning love,” explains Elliott. “We were friends right away. Tommy is just a very, very funny guy. He takes the race very seriously and knows what he needs to do for his job. But he loves to have fun, and he’s really nice to all the little ones at the track. He will know the names of all the grooms. He’s a great racer. He lived and breathed it, and on his days off you can often catch him visiting some of the other racecourses just for fun. ”
Creel’s services were still incomplete as of Friday afternoon, nor is there a complete list of survivors.
Elliott said TDN that Creel has two children and one grandchild: A daughter, Amanda, and a son, Christopher. During Creel’s tenure at Suffolk Downs, Christopher began pursuing his father in the backseat and in the racing office early on. He later became a racing agent while still in high school, and has since worked as a racing official, assistant coach and blood dealer.
