HORSE RACING

Beginnings

During the 1910s horse racing emerged from a period of financial instability. Formerly dependent on admission charges for their prize money, major tracks began to conduct stake races in which horse owners paid an entry fee that became part of the purse. Stake races included the Saratoga Cup, the Belmont, the Champagne, the Alabama, the Preakness, the Withers, and the Kentucky Derby.

Betting

Just as thoroughbred racing was expanding, it was threatened by a nationwide reform movement directed at gambling. Bookmakers, who paid a fee to the track owner for the privilege of handling track betting, were a particular target. A Kentucky law passed in 1908 specifically prohibited bookmaking. Churchill Downs remained open by adopting pari-mutuel betting, which was legal, while other tracks in Kentucky as well as those in Maryland, which had a similar law against bookmaking, began to take pari-mutuel bets. In New York, racing shut down for two years after bookmaking and gaming devices were prohibited in 1910 under the Director's Liability Act, and racetracks were made responsible for its enforcement. New York antigaming measures affected even pas-times such as hog-calling contests, since fair management feared that patrons would bet on the outcome.

Maryland and Kentucky

The New York racing blackout did not adversely affect racing in other parts of the country. During the 1910 and 1911 seasons, there was actually more racing in America than in the years before or after. Tracks in states where racing was still legal tried to benefit from the New York situation, and in Maryland and Kentucky racing increased during the two-year period. Helped by a Maryland pari-mutuel law in 1912, the Pimlico racetrack in Baltimore, one of the most popular and prosperous tracks in the East, became a perennial leader among American tracks in daily purse distribution in the 1920s. Baltimore developed its own racing circuit with the opening of Laurel in 1911, Havre de Grace in 1912, and Prince George Park (later Bowie) in 1914. In Kentucky, racing gains were offset by severe damage to the state's more important breeding industry as the market for thoroughbreds was weakened when breeding efforts were begun in other states.

Roamer

In 1913, after unsensational starts at Pimlico and in Kentucky, two-year-old Roamer, one of the original "horses for courses/' won the Saratoga Special, his only stakes victory that season. Five years later in August 1918, Roamer crowned his career in an exhibition race at Saratoga by beating the previous record time of 1:35.5 for the mile. Carrying 110 pounds, Roamer quickly left his pacesetter behind and clicked off quarter-mile fractions of 23.6, 46.0, 1:10.2, and 1:34.8 to set a new record. This was the last mark for a popularly run distance established in a race against time. All subsequent records were set during actual competition.

Regret

In May 1915 Regret, considered one of the greatest mares in the sport, became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby. Fighting the traditional wisdom that no three-year-old filly could beat colts at a mile and a quarter, she went to the post a strong favorite and stayed in the lead throughout the race. Regret retired with nine wins and one place in eleven starts for total earnings of $35,093. No other filly ever finished in front of her.

Exterminator. On 11 May 1918 Exterminator, an ungainly three-year-old gelding, made his debut at the Kentucky Derby and won by a length. In fifteen starts that year, he was out of the money only once. During his career Exterminator started one hundred races, won fifty, placed in seventeen, and showed in seventeen for earnings of $252,996. For four straight seasons Exterminator was the leading money winner of the handicap division, which penalized a horse for winning by assigning it higher weights in subsequent races. The horse won at sixteen different racetracks in three different countries and dominated long routes.

Sir Barton

On 10 May 1919 Sir Barton, ridden by Johnny Loftus, won the forty-fifth annual Kentucky Derby with a time of 2:09.8. Loftus also rode Sir Barton to wins in the Preakness and in the Belmont Stakes, making the horse the first Triple Crown champion in racing history. Since the derby was his first race, Sir Barton's weight assignment was so low (110 pounds) that his jockey was two-and-one-half pounds overweight in the race. Taking the lead immediately, Sir Barton never looked back and scored the first victory of his career by five lengths. It was a happy victory for trainer H. G. "Hard Guy" Bedwell, the leading trainer of 1916, and for owner J. K. L. Ross, a wealthy Canadian businessman, yachtsman, and war hero. Their other horse in the race, Billy Kelly, finished second, the first one-two result in Derby history. Eternal, a slight favorite in the betting, finished tenth. Sir Barton went on to become the biggest money winner of the season. He never finished out of the money in thirteen starts, eight of which he won, including the Derby, the Preakness, Withers, Belmont Stakes, Potomac (Maryland), and two Pimlico fall serial races.

Man o' War

One of the greatest legends of horse racing got his start at the end of the decade. Man o' War, described as having the "look of eagles" and a "living flame," appeared upon the scene at the same time as Bill Tilden and Jack Dempsey and got racing in the 1920s off to a roaring start. He suffered his only defeat on 13 August 1919 at the Sanford Stakes in Saratoga to a horse named Upset. In his remarkable career he won twenty races in twenty-one starts and retired as America's leading money winner. Man o' War was the first stud to command a $5,000 service fee. He seemed to set all of his eight record times effortlessly: three world records, two American records, and three track records.

THE TRIPLE CROWN

The Triple Crown is the most coveted and elusive prize in American thoroughbred horse racing. The inspiration for the American Triple Crown came from England, where the Epsom Derby, the St. Ledger, and the Two Thousand Guineas races were considered the three jewels in the crown. In the 1930s Charles Hatton, a turf reporter for the Morning Telegraph, first applied the term Triple Crown to the Kentucky Derby, the Prcakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. In 1950 the Thoroughbred Racing Association decided to award a Triple Crown trophy retroactively to Sir Barton, the winner of the three races in 1919, and the 1948 champion Citation. At the association's awards dinner, Sir Barton was recognized with a three-sided silver trophy designed by Cartier as the first horse to win the American Tripl e Crown.

Source:

Marvin Drager, The Most (Glorious Crown (New York: Winchester Press, 1975).

Sources:

Marvin Drager, The Most Glorious Crown (New York: Winchester, 1975);

William H.P. Robertson, The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1964);

Suzanne Wilding and Anthony Del Balso, The Triple Crown Winners: The Story of America's Ten Superstar Race Horses, revised edition (New York: Parents' Magazine, 1978).

HORSE RACING

Gaining Popularity

For many years it was a toss-up in America whether horse racing or boxing was America's second most favorite spectator sport. Horse racing's popularity steadily grew as boxing became more crooked and baseball more predictable. Bigger payouts helped increase interest too, though the track was also a good place to get one's pocket picked. Fans who bet on Head Play in the 1933 Kentucky Derby might have thought they were robbed by Broker's Tip jockey Don Meade, who allegedly fouled the favorite's jockey, Herb Fisher. Both riders fought through the stretch and in the jockey room afterward, but the foul was disallowed. Man O' War's day had come and gone, but his scions—Battleship and War Admiral—would step into winner's circles in the 1930s.

The Fox

Gallant Fox, a three-year-old ridden by jockey Earl Sande, burst out of the starting gate at the beginning of the decade and looked as though he would never stop. He won the Triple Crown in 1930, including a tough race in the Belmont Stakes against his chief competitor, Whichone. Gallant Fox also won the Dwyer and the Arlington Classic, and by the time he had won the Lawrence Realization Stakes in September he was the top-winning racehorse. He was, however, finally defeated by an obscure thoroughbred named Jim Dandy at Saratoga Springs in August in the mud.

Seabiscuit by Three Lengths

The race of the decade took place at Pimlico on 1 November 1938, and when it was over no one had seen anything like it. War Admiral, son of Man O' War, had been the Triple Crown winner the previous year, undefeated in eight starts, and was the one-to-four favorite. Seabiscuit, cast-off son of Man O' War's son Hard Tack, was described, at best, as "phlegmatic" by most racing writers. The horse had started eighty-three races already. Under the whip Seabiscuit burst out to a fulllength lead. War Admiral gave it all he could and bounded forward, leading by a nose going into the homestretch. But Seabiscuit put everything he could into the drive and pulled away. "Through the last eighth of a mile," wrote the Chicago Tribune, "it was a procession,"

The Great Gray Gelding

Harness racing was almost as popular as horse racing in the 1930s, due largely in part to Greyhound, who up until that time was the fastest trotter in history. He won the celebrated Hambletonian (the most famous harness-racing event in North America) and elsewhere set a record for the mile at 1 minute 55.25 seconds, which remains close to contemporary records.

Source:

Arch Ward, ed., The Greatest Sports Stories from the Chicago Tribune (New York: Barnes, 1953).

horse racing in Ireland takes two main forms: steeplechasing and flat racing. Steeplechasing began in Co. Cork in 1752. This racing over fences became popular amongst the county elites, encouraged by huntsmen and cavalrymen. The sport spread rapidly to England. The English rules were adopted in Ireland in 1864, but an independent Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee (INHSC) was established in 1869. Permanent courses were built at Punchestown, Co. Kildare, and Fairyhouse, Co. Meath. Popular interest in steeplechasing exploded after the First World War, following the successes of Irish horses in English racing. Irish interest in English steeplechasing remains high.

Flat racing is mentioned in 14th‐century manuscripts, though its roots are probably much older. During the 18th century it was both encouraged as an important aspect of horse breeding and suppressed as promoting idleness and disorder. By 1790 the Turf Club of Ireland had been founded to improve the sport by introducing universal rules. Throughout the 19th century meetings, especially those at the Curragh, drew enormous crowds. Irish racing imitated English formats. An Irish Derby was run from 1886, and an Irish Oaks from 1895. While racing standards were extremely high, prize moneys remained lower than in England.

All Irish racing enjoyed a boom during the First World War due to an influx of English stock and personnel. However from 1918 civil disorders began to disrupt meetings. Eventual partition did not affect the organization of racing and, despite the association of the ruling bodies with the military and the Protestant ascendancy, racing remained popular in independent Ireland. Always of some economic importance, racing and breeding in the Irish Free State were overseen from 1945 by the Racing Board, a government organization funded by a betting levy. Though said in 1986 to be in ‘a perilous financial state’, the racing industry remains a major employer in the Republic, and a considerable earner of foreign income through training and the export of stock.

Bibliography

D'Arcy, F. A. , Horses, Lords and Racing Men: The Turf Club 1790–1990 (1991)

Neal Garnham

horse-racing consists of flat racing or jumping, ‘over the sticks’. Racing became popular during the 16th cent. and the first race-course with an annual fixture was established on the Roodee at Chester in 1540. Racing received support from successive monarchs. James I established a hunting stable at Newmarket where he bred horses, Charles I offered a gold cup as a prize for a race in 1634, and Charles II made it fashionable. Noblemen founded stables and became interested in breeding thoroughbred racehorses. Old Bald Meg (c.1659) is the oldest recorded mare in the General Studbook and it is argued that every thoroughbred has descended from her.

Racing expanded with courses springing up at Doncaster (1595), York (1709), Ascot (1711), Epsom (1730), Goodwood (1801), and Aintree (1827). In 1750 the Jockey Club was founded to regulate the sport. The first Racing Calendar was introduced in 1773 and stud books and jockeys' colours followed. Lord George Bentinck (1802–48), an influential horse breeder-owner, devised the flag start, race card, paddock parade, and much of modern race-course practice. Highlights of the flat season include the Derby, Oaks, and St Leger.

Steeple-chasing derived from horses racing each other cross-country to the nearest church steeple. The concept of a course with artificial fences originated at the Newmarket Craven meeting in 1794. A Grand Annual Steeplechase began at Cheltenham around 1815. In 1866 the Grand National Hunt Steeplechase Committee was formed to establish rules and the first Calendar appeared in 1867. It became the National Hunt Committee in 1889 and merged with the Jockey Club eighty years later. Highlights include the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Horse-racing has become synonymous with betting. The on-course Totalizator introduced in 1929 and the Horserace Betting Levy Board founded in 1961 both aimed to distribute betting revenue for the good of the sport. A Joint Racing Board was established in 1968 to facilitate policy discussion between the Turf Authorities and the Levy Board.

Richard A. Smith

horse‐racing consists of flat racing or jumping, ‘over the sticks’. Racing became popular during the 16th cent. and the first race‐course with an annual fixture was established on the Roodee at Chester in 1540. Racing received support from successive monarchs. James I established a hunting stable at Newmarket and Charles II made it fashionable. Racing expanded with courses springing up at Doncaster (1595), York (1709), Ascot (1711), Epsom (1730), Goodwood (1801), and Aintree (1827). In 1750 the Jockey Club was founded to regulate the sport. Lord George Bentinck (1802–48) devised the flag start, race card, paddock parade, and much of modern race‐course practice. Highlights of the flat season include the Derby, Oaks, and St Leger.

Steeple‐chasing derived from horses racing each other cross‐country to the nearest church steeple. The concept of a course with artificial fences originated at the Newmarket Craven meeting in 1794. A Grand Annual Steeplechase began at Cheltenham around 1815. In 1866 the Grand National Hunt Steeplechase Committee was formed to establish rules and the first Calendar appeared in 1867. It became the National Hunt Committee in 1889. Highlights include the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

horse racing Sport in which horses, guided by jockeys, race over a course of predetermined length. Most popular is thoroughbred racing, although harness racing (in which horses draw a light two-wheeled carriage) is also popular. In the UK, thoroughbred racing includes flat racing organized by the Jockey Club, and hurdle racing and steeplechasing organized according to National Hunt rules. Horse racing began in Assyria in c.1500 bc. The world's oldest flat race is the English Derby, held annually at Epsom, Surrey, since 1780. It is one of the five English Classics: 1000 Guineas, 2000 Guineas, Oaks, and St Leger. The Grand National steeplechase dates from 1839. See also equestrian sports