Horse-racing was indulged in to a limited extent in Maryland and
Virginia as early as the middle of the 17th century, particularly in the
latter colony. Most of the inhabitants of both were either from the
British Isles or were descended from parents who had immigrated from
them, and they inherited a taste for the sport. The animals used for
this purpose, however, were not highly prized at the time, and the
pedigree of not even one of them has been preserved. A horse called
Bully Rock by the Darley Arabian out of a mare by the Byerly Turk,
granddam by the Lister Turk, great-granddam a royal mare, foaled 1718,
is the first recorded importation of a thoroughbred horse into America.
He was imported into Virginia in 1730. In 1723 the duke of Bolton bred a
mare named Bonny Lass by his celebrated horse Bay Bolton out of a
daughter of the Darley Arabian. She became celebrated in England as a
brood mare, and was the first thoroughbred mare, according to the
records, that was carried to America. This is supposed to have been in
or after 1740, as the _Stud-Book_ shows she produced in England after
1739 a filly by Lord Lonsdale's Arabian, and subsequently became
familiar to the public as the granddam of Zamora. The importations
increased very rapidly from this period, and many valuable shipments
were made before the war which resulted in a separation of the colonies
from the mother country. This acquisition of thoroughbred stock
increased the number and value of racing prizes, and extended the area
of operations into the Carolinas in the South, and New Jersey and New
York in the North. The first race run in South Carolina was in February
1734 for L20. It took place over "the Green," on Charleston Neck. This
shows that the earlier races in America were actually on the turf, as
they have always been in England. The next year a Jockey Club was
organized at Charleston (1735), and a course was prepared, such as those
which came later into general use throughout the states, the turf being
removed and the ground made as level as possible.
After 1776, when the United States declared their independence of Great
Britain, the importation of thoroughbred horses from England became
quite common, and selections were made from the best stocks in the
United Kingdom. This continued and even increased as the country became
developed, down to 1840. The following Derby winners were among those
carried into the states: Diomed, who won the first Derby in 1780;
Saltram, winner in 1783; John Bull, winner in 1792; Spread Eagle, winner
in 1795; Sir Harry, winner in 1798; Archduke, winner in 1799; and Priam,
who won in 1830. The most important and valuable importations, however,
proved to be Jolly Roger, Fearnought, Medley, Traveller, Diomed,
Glencoe, Leviathan, Tranby, Lexington, Margrave, Yorkshire Buzzard,
Albion and Leamington. The best results were obtained from Diomed and
Glencoe. Diomed sired one horse, Sir Archy, who founded a family to
which nearly all the blood horses of America trace back. He was foaled
in 1805, in Virginia, and became celebrated as a sire. The superiority
of his progeny was so generally conceded that they were greatly sought
after. From this period, too, the number and value of races increased;
still they were comparatively few in number, and could not compare in
value with those of Great Britain. Up to 1860 the value of racing prizes
was quite inadequate to develop large breeding establishments, or to
sustain extensive training stables. Then the civil war between the North
and the South broke out, which raged for four years. Breeding
establishments were broken up during that time; the horses were taken by
the armies for cavalry purposes, for which service they were highly
prized; and racing was completely paralysed. It took some time to regain
its strength; but an era of prosperity set in about 1870, and since then
the progress in interest has been continuous.
In the United States interest in trotting races more than rivals that
felt in the contests of thoroughbred horses. This interest dates back to
the importation to Philadelphia from England, in 1788, of the
thoroughbred horse Messenger, a grey stallion, by Mambrino, 1st dam by
Turf, 2nd dam by Regulus, 3rd dam by Starling, 4th dam by Fox, 5th dam
Gipsey, by Bay Bolton, 6th dam by duke of Newcastle's Turk, 7th dam by
Byerly Turk, 8th dam by Taffolet Barb, 9th dam by Place's White Turk. He
was eight years old when imported to the United States. He was at the
stud for twenty years, in the vicinity of Philadelphia and New York,
serving a number of thoroughbred mares, but a far greater number of
cold-blooded mares, and in the progeny of the latter the trotting
instinct was almost invariably developed, while his thoroughbred sons,
who became scattered over the country, were also noted for transmitting
the trotting instinct. The first public trotting race of which there is
any account in the United States was in 1818, when the grey gelding
Boston Blue was matched to trot a mile in 3 minutes, a feat deemed
impossible; but he won, though the time of his performance has not been
preserved. From about that date interest in this gait began to increase;
breeders of trotters sprang up, and horses were trained for trotting
contests. The problem of breeding trotters has been necessarily found to
be a much more complex one than that of breeding the thoroughbred, as in
the latter case pure blood lines of long recognized value could be
relied upon, while in the former the best results were constantly being
obtained from most unexpected sources. Among the leading families came
to be the Hambletonian, of which the modern head was Rysdyk's
Hambletonian, a bay horse foaled in 1849, got by Abdallah (traced to
imp. Messenger on the side of both sire and dam) out of the Charles Kent
mare, by imp. (i.e. imported) Bellfounder, with two crosses to imp.
Messenger on her dam's side; the Mambrinos, whose modern head was
Mambrino Chief, foaled 1844, by Mambrino Paymaster, a grandson of imp.
Messenger; the Bashaws, founded by Young Bashaw, foaled 1822, by Grand
Bashaw, an Arabian horse, dam Pearl, by First Consul; the Clays,
springing from Henry Clay, a grandson of Young Bashaw through Andrew
Jackson; the Stars, springing from Stockholm's American Star, by Duroc,
son of imp. Diomed; the Morgans, whose founder was Justin Morgan, foaled
1793, by a horse called True Briton, or Beautiful Bay, who was probably
thoroughbred; the Black Hawks, a branch of the Morgan family; the Blue
Bulls, descended from Doyle's Blue Bull, foaled 1855, a pacer, sired by
a pacer of the same name, dam by Blacknose, son of Medoc; the Canadians,
whose best representatives were St Lawrence and pacing Pilot, horses of
unknown pedigree; the Gold Dusts, another branch of the Morgan family;
and the Royal Georges, springing from Tippoo, a horse who was probably
by Ogden's Messenger, son of imp. Messenger. But trotters of great speed
have been produced which do not trace to any of the sources mentioned.
Very large prices are paid. Steinway, a three-year-old colt, was sold in
1879, to go to California, for $13,000; and in 1878 $21,000 was paid for
the four-year-old filly Maud S., after she had trotted a mile in public
in 2 m. 17(1/2) s. Much larger sums have been paid, however, for matured
trotters, such as $40,000 for the stallion Smuggler, $38,000 for
Pocahontas, $35,000 for Dexter, $36,000 for Rarus, and long prices for
many others; St Julien, the trotter with the fastest record at the close
of 1879, was held at $50,000, while Rysdyk's Hambletonian, Messenger
Duroc and Volunteer were valued, in their prime, at $100,000 each.
Compared with the early days of American trotting, the advance has been
rapid and the changes marked. After the performance of Boston Blue,
mentioned above, more attention was paid to the gait, but for a long
time the races were generally under saddle, and at long distances, 3 m.
being rather the favourite. The best of the old time trotters were Edwin
Forrest, who trotted a mile in 2 m. 31(1/2) s. in 1834; Dutchman, who
did 3 m. under saddle in 7 m. 32(1/2) s.; Ripton; Lady Suffolk, who
trotted a mile in 2 m. 26(1/2) s. in 1843, and headed the list of
performers; Mac, Tacony, &c. After 1850, however, the taste of the
people settled upon the style of race called "mile heats, best three out
of five, in harness" as the favourite. By "in harness" is meant that the
horse draws a sulky, a light two-wheeled vehicle in which the driver
sits close to the horse, with his legs on each side of his flanks. These
sulkies often weigh less than 40 lb. The driver is required to weigh,
with the blanket on which he sits, 150 lb., while for saddle races the
regulation weight is 145 lb., or 10 st. 5 lb. Each heat of a mile is a
separate race; 20 minutes is allowed between heats; and the horse that
first places three heats to his credit wins the race. There are various
penalties imposed upon a horse that breaks into a run in a trotting
race. The driver is required to pull him to a trot as quickly as
possible; if the horse gains by running, the judges set him back at the
finish twice the distance he has gained, in their estimation, by
running; and for repeated "breaks" they can declare him distanced. The
first-class tracks are of oval shape, with long stretches and easy
curves, measuring 1 m. at 3 ft. distance from the "pole," as the inner
railing of the track is called. The time in which the leading horse
trots each heat is accurately kept, placed on a blackboard in front of
the judges' stand for the information of the public, and also placed in
the book of the course. The fastest time that any trotter has is thus
entered as his "record." This is one of the distinctive features of
trotting in America.
Prior to 1866 purses for trotters were small; match races were more in
vogue, and the trotting turf was in bad odour. In that year an
association was formed at Buffalo, N.Y., which inaugurated its efforts
by offering the then unprecedented sum of $10,500 for a trotting meeting
of four days' duration. The experiment was successful; other cities
followed the example of Buffalo; larger and larger purses were given;
and at Buffalo in 1872 the prizes amounted to $70,000. Since then the
amount offered in the United States and Canada, during a single year,
has reached $1,500,000. Individual trotters, in the course of a long
turf career, earn enormous amounts. A remarkable instance of this was
the mare Goldsmith Maid, by Alexander's Abdallah (a son of Rysdyk's
Hambletonian), out of an Abdallah mare. She began trotting in 1866, and
left the turf in 1878, when twenty-one years old, and her winnings
amounted to over $200,000.
In 1869 the National Trotting Association was formed, under which an
elaborate code of rules has been published.
In trotting races, it will be noted, the time test is supreme, differing
from running races, in which time is of comparatively little
consequence. The animal which has the fastest record for 1 mile in
harness is, until deposed, the king or queen of the trotting turf. Lady
Suffolk, with her record of 2 m. 26(1/2) s., in 1843, held this honour
until 1853, when Tacony trotted in 2 m. 25(1/2) s. under saddle; Flora
Temple wrested it from him in 1856 by trotting in 2 m. 24(1/2) s. in
harness. This latter mare, in 1859, trotted a mile in 2 m. 19(3/4) s., a
feat which the best horsemen thought would never be repeated, but since
that time forty-two trotters have beaten 2 m. 20 s. Dexter's record was
2 m. 17(1/4) s. in 1867, and Goldsmith Maid's in 1871 was 2 m. 17 s.,
which she reduced, by successive efforts, to 2 m. 16(3/4) s., 2 m. 16
s., 2 m. 15 s., 2 m. 14(3/4) s., and finally, in 1874, to 2 m. 14 s. In
1878 Rarus trotted a mile in 2 m. 13(1/4) s., and in October 1879 the
bay gelding St Julien, by Volunteer, son of Rysdyk's Hambletonian, dam
by Henry Clay, trotted a mile in California in 2 m. 12(3/4) s. Other
notable performances reducing the record were Maud S. in 1881, 2 m.
10(1/4) s.; Maud S. in 1885, 2 m. 8(3/4) s.; Sunol in 1891, 2 m. 8(1/4)
s.; Nancy Hanks in 1892, 2 m. 4 s.; Alix in 1894, 2 m. 3(3/4) s.;
Cresceus in 1901, 2 m. 2(1/4) s.; Lou Dillon in 1905, 1 m. 58(1/2) s.
Improved times have doubtless been the result of improved methods, as
well as of care in the breeding of the trotter. Some very severe
training rules used to be sedulously observed; about 1870, for
instance, a horse never had water the night before a race, and the
system generally appears to have overtaxed the animal's strength. A
prominent consideration in trotting races is the adjustment of
toe-weights, which are fastened on to the horses' feet to equalize their
action, and it is found that horses improve their time to the extent of
several seconds when properly shod.
Pacing races are also frequent in the United States. In trotting the
action may be described as diagonal; the pacer moves both legs on the
same side at the same time, and both feet stride as one. A similar
"gait," to employ the American term, was called in England some
centuries ago an "amble." The pacer moves more easily and with
apparently less exertion than the trotter, and the mile record (made by
Prince Alert in 1903) stands at 1 m. 57 s.
Owing to the vast size of the country there are various centres of
sport, which can be classified with reasonable accuracy as follows: the
Eastern States, dominated by the Jockey Club, founded in New York in
1894, and recognized by a state law in 1895; the Middle Western States,
under the control of the Western Jockey Club, whose headquarters are in
Chicago; the Pacific Coast, with San Francisco for its centre; and the
Southern and South-Western States, with Louisville as the most important
centre. The passage of the racing law in New York State marked the
opening of a new era. Supreme even over the Jockey Club is a State
Racing Commission of three, appointed by the governor of the state.
While the Jockey Club is only recognized by law in its native state, it
has assumed and maintains control of all racing on the eastern seaboard,
within certain lines of latitude and longitude, extending as far north
as the Canadian border and south to Georgia. There is small question
that other states, both east and west, will follow suit and enact
similar laws. The Western Jockey Club, though not recognized by law,
controls practically all the racing through the middle west, south-west
and south; but the racing associations of the Pacific Coast have
maintained a position of independence.
What New York is to the east, Chicago is to the middle west, and a very
large proportion of American racing is conducted close to these centres.
In New York State the Coney Island Jockey Club, at Sheepshead Bay; the
Brooklyn Jockey Club, at Gravesend; the Westchester Racing Association,
at Morris Park; the Brighton Beach Racing Association, at Brighton
Beach; the Queen's County Jockey Club, at Aqueduct; and the Saratoga
Racing Association, at Saratoga, are the leading organizations; and all
these race-courses, with the exception of Saratoga, are within a radius
of 20 miles of the city. The Empire City Jockey Club, near Yonkers, and
another club with headquarters near Jamaica, Long Island, have also
become prominent institutions. The Washington Park Club, at Chicago, is
the leading Turf body of the west, and the only one on an equal footing
with the prominent associations of New York State. With this single
exception the most important and valuable stakes of the American Turf
are given in the east; and so great has the prosperity of the Turf been
since the Jockey Club came into existence that the list of rich prizes
is growing at a surprising rate. In this respect the principal fault is
the undue encouragement given to the racing of two-year-olds. At the
winter meetings held at New Orleans and San Francisco, two-year-olds are
raced from the very beginning of the year; and under the rules of the
Jockey Club of New York they run as early as March. The Westchester
Racing Association, with which are closely identified some of the
principal members of the Jockey Club, gives valuable two-year-old stakes
in May. The Futurity Stakes, the richest event of the year--on one
occasion it reached a value of $67,675--is for two-year-olds, and is run
at Sheepshead Bay in the autumn. The institution of races, either
absolutely or practically at weight-for-age, and over long courses, has
engaged much attention. The Coney Island Jockey Club has the leading
three-year-old stake in the Lawrence Realization, over 1 mile 5
furlongs, with an average value of about $30,000. The Westchester Racing
Association's two principal three-year-old stakes, the Withers, over a
mile, run in May, and the Belmont, 1 mile and 3 furlongs, run later in
the same month, are of less value, but are much older-established and
have a species of "classic" prestige, dating from the old Jerome Park
race-course in the 'sixties. The Coney Island Jockey Club's Century and
the Annual Champion Stakes, both for three-year-olds and upwards, over a
mile and a half and two miles and a quarter respectively, are fair
specimens of the races the associations have founded. At Saratoga a
stake of $50,000 for three-year-olds and upwards, distance a mile and a
quarter, was opened, and run for first in 1904. The hope is to wean
owners from the practice of overtaxing their two-year-olds, which has
resulted practically in a positive dearth, almost a total absence, of
good four-year-olds and upwards of late years. Handicaps play a more
important part than in England. The principal events of this character,
such as the Brooklyn Handicap at Gravesend and the Suburban at
Sheepshead Bay, have for years drawn the largest attendances of the
racing season.
Practically all flat racing in the United States is held on
"dirt-tracks," i.e. courses with soil specially prepared for racing,
instead of turf courses. At Sheepshead Bay there is a turf course, but
it is only used for a minority of races. Dirt-tracks, which are, like
many other things in American racing, a legacy from the once hugely
popular harness-racing, are conducive to great speed, but are costly in
the extreme strain on horses' legs. Steeplechases are run on turf. This
branch of the sport in the east is now flourishing under the
administration of the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association, a
sister body of the Jockey Club. Comparatively few races are, however,
run under these rules, as the weather conditions render it impossible to
have a separate season for cross-country sport and steeplechases, and
hurdle races are incorporated in programmes of flat racing held through
the spring, summer and autumn, though the ground is frequently so hard
as to be unsafe. Since the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association
assumed control, regulation courses, practically similar in every
respect to those used in England, have been insisted upon in the east,
the "open ditch" figuring under the name of the "Liverpool." In the west
and south there is not the same uniformity, and so far the sport has not
flourished.