BOSTON (AP) - Country Star makes a wide turn entering the stretch, passing several horses to close in on Backseat Rhythm.

'C'mon,' Jerry Rock urges, looking up at the race being simulcast from Belmont Park outside New York City to Suffolk Downs in Boston.

Country Star finishes second, which is good news for Rock, a Lynn resident who at 53 appears to be among the younger bettors Thursday afternoon. First place would have brought $230, but second place means $80 paid on his $20 bet.

The state's four racetracks hope they're as lucky when it comes to casino gambling. Gov. Deval Patrick's plan to license three resort casinos presents a go-for-broke opportunity for horse and dog tracks that have seen better days. If they lose out, they might not survive.

'All of them are in pretty shaky financial position,' said Clyde Barrow, a gambling researcher at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. 'Most people who watch this issue thought one or two would have gone under already.'

All four tracks -- Suffolk Downs in Boston, Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Raynham Park, and Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville -- say they're putting together casino proposals in anticipation of possibly bidding for a license if the Legislature endorses Patrick's plan. Several other casino developers, as well as two Indian tribes, also will vie for the same licenses.

'We're hanging in there but business can always be better,' said George Carney, owner of Raynham Park, which features dog racing and simulcast horse and dog racing.

That's an understatement. Gross revenue from track betting and simulcast has been plummeting for years, from $473 million in 1995 to $342 million a decade later, according to figures from the Massachusetts Racing Commission. Gross revenue fell to $324 million last year. The figures don't reveal net revenue, but tracks typically come away from less than 10 percent.

The governor wants to allow commercial casinos in a bid to generate 20,000 new jobs and $450 million in annual tax revenue, which he would spend on transportation upgrades and property tax relief. The casinos would be distributed one each in the western, southeastern and greater Boston regions of the state. Competitive bidding would be open to all, including Indian tribes.

'We see the governor's announcement as an opportunity to show how Suffolk Downs can help fulfill his vision for economic development,' said Chip Tuttle, chief operating officer at Suffolk Downs, the only thoroughbred horse track in New England.

A resort casino on the 166-acre site Suffolk Downs would add 5,000 jobs to the region, said Tuttle, estimating that the track currently supports more than 2,000 jobs.

Boosting Suffolk Downs' hopes is new ownership with casino experience. Richard Fields, a former associate of Donald Trump, partnered with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to build casinos there and bought Suffolk Downs this spring.

Rock, whose horse placed second, looked around the betting floor and painted a grim picture of the future of tracks.

'It seems like the only time there's a crowd here is for the Kentucky Derby and probably this weekend for the MassCap -- the major events,' he said. 'The sad thing is sometimes people you see here now, you see at eight o'clock at night. For most of them it's just a place to go.'

But track officials say new ownership is reinvigorating Suffolk Downs. This year's marketing budget is about $1.8 million, far above the $300,000 spent last year. Television ads have been promoting this Saturday's running of the MassCap, which is the Massachusetts equivalent of the Kentucky Derby.

The MassCap was last run in 2004. Prior ownership canceled the race to save money.

'We seem to be able to capture public attention for the big days, but not able to sustain it. That's the big challenge, how to sustain it,' Tuttle said.

Casino or no casino, Tuttle said Suffolk Downs will survive.

'Our ownership is committed to thoroughbred racing here for the long haul, no matter what happens. We're not going anywhere,' he said.

Barrow, the UMass researcher, said Suffolk Downs is 'in the best position right now' financially and because Wonderland appears to be the only competition for a Boston-area license. He called Wonderland the 'weakest of the four' tracks, and the revenue numbers support that. Wonderland had a 46 percent gross revenue decline in live betting from 2005 to 2006.

Officials at Wonderland did not return a call Thursday.

Last year, a bill to allow each of the state's horse and dog tracks to install up to 2,000 slot machines was rejected in the House on a 100-55 vote.

Patrick has stated that he opposes slots at the tracks, or 'racinos,' arguing that it does little to foster economic development. In addition, allowing slots would also open the door to Indian casinos, potentially limiting the state's bargaining power in any revenue-sharing deal with tribes.

Plainridge Racecourse, a 91-acre harness racing facility in Plainville, prefers legislation allowing slots but definitely will bid for a full-fledged casino, said track president Gary Piontkowski, who isn't worried about losing out.

'Nobody's jumping off a ledge here,' he said.

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