A racing plate worn by ''Seabiscuit'' in the Massachusetts Handicap 8th July 1937, mounted on a sterling silver hoof shaped ashtray, the plate engrave

A racing plate worn by ''Seabiscuit'' in the Massachusetts Handicap 8th July 1937, mounted on a sterling silver hoof shaped ashtray, the plate engraved with the race details and new track record, the centre of the ashtray engraved with Jack McDonald from C.S. Howard 1937, reverse bears Skinners Auction label from July 19 2015 and sterling mark, 12.4 x 11.3 cm. The legendary US champion Seabiscuit (1933-47), then a four-year-old, recorded his seventh consecutive stakes victory in the 1937 Massachusetts Handicap in a track record time of 1 min 49 seconds, in front of a crowd of nearly 40,000. The winner's purse money of $51,780 was the highest amount he had won to date. Ridden as usual by Red Pollard and carrying top-weight of 130 lbs, Seabiscuit won by a length from Caballero II. The Massachusetts Handicap - or ''Mass Cap'' as it was popularly known - was a flat race held annually over nine furlongs on dirt at Suffolk Downs in East Boston, Massachusetts. Inaugurated in 1935, the race was won by other greats such as Cigar and Riva Ridge, but suffered due to several closures in the years following 1989 as the track continually fought for its economic survival. The last recorded Mass Cap was run in 2008 and Suffolk Downs was due to hold its final season of racing on June 16 2019 before it closes for good.