During the 1860s, several newly made millionaires revived the sport of horse racing. The troubled sport had been on the verge of collapse for the previous two decades because of inconsistent patronage from the nation’s wealthiest classes, national economic problems, and charges of gambling, chicanery, and commercialism. Wealthy patrons, however, ushered horse racing into a new golden age, building new tracks, providing large stakes, reducing corruption, and shortening racing distances. John Morrissey, a former boxing champion and Tammany Hall politician, opened a racetrack at Saratoga Springs, New York, in August 1863 and persuaded New York socialites Leonard Jerome, the American grandfather of Sir Winston Churchill, and William Travers to join him in the venture. He earned considerable profits with an extensive August racing season that attracted notables. Previously, race meetings usually had lasted just one or two days. Morrissey arranged the first stakes races, named after the aristocratic Travers family, and offered generous purse money.
In 1866 Leonard Jerome, enlisting the support of Travers, August Belmont, and other wealthy New Yorkers, founded the American Jockey Club as a central governing board. The American Jockey Club reestablished racing on a firm basis in New York, building Jerome Park on more than 200 acres of land in Westchester County. The nation’s most lavish course, it contained a luxurious clubhouse, barred the sale of liquor, and discouraged professional gamblers. The Belmont Stakes, the oldest of the Triple Crown races, was held at Jerome Park from 1867 to 1888 and shifted to Morris Park in 1889. Ruthless, ridden by J. Gilpatrick, captured the first Belmont Stakes in 1867. Jim McLaughlin rode six Belmont Stakes winners between 1882 and 1888, missing only in 1885. Morris Park opened in August 1889 and sponsored races through 1904. The American Jockey Club, whose wealth and social status extended well beyond New York City, led the movement to replace the old three-or four-mile heats with shorter dashes that emphasized speed over stamina and permitted the running of several daily races. The Travers Stakes, Belmont Stakes, and other large permanent prizes brought greater excitement and stability to horse racing.
Racetracks were built in 1870 at Monmouth Park in New Jersey and at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland; in 1873 at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, Louisiana; and in 1875 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The Preakness Stakes at Pimlico and the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs soon joined the Belmont Stakes as Triple Crown races. George Barbee triumphed aboard Survivor in the inaugural Preakness Stakes in 1873 and aboard Shirley in 1876, while Lloyd Hughes rode three Preakness winners in 1875, 1879, and 1880. In 1875 Oliver Lewis captured the initial Kentucky Derby aboard Aristides for a $2,850 prize. Isaac Murphy, a black jockey, rode three Kentucky Derby winners: Buchanan in 1884, Riley in 1890, and Kingman in 1891. Willie Simms followed suit with Ben Brush in 1896 and Plaudit in 1898. Other tracks opened in Chicago, Cincinnati, Memphis, Boston, and Springfield, Massachusetts, and more Thoroughbreds were imported from England.
Murphy and Edward “Snapper” Garrison were the era’s most dominant jockeys. In addition to his three Kentucky Derby wins, Murphy in June 1890 guided Salvator to a half-head victory over Garrison’s Tenny at Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, New York, in a widely publicized, exciting race. Murphy rode nearly every famous American horse and triumphed in every major race except the Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park, compiling 628 victories in 1,412 mounts. Garrison, one of the first jockeys to use the short stirrups and monkey crouch, usually lagged behind and then thrilled crowds with spectacular, breathtaking finishes. From 1880 to 1896, he won more than $2 million in nearly 700 races.
Racing lacked national governing control until the 1890s, with each racing association operating under its own rules. The Jockey Club, incorporated by 50 industrial and financial giants in February 1894 and headquartered in New York, adopted uniform national racing rules, appointed officials, licensed jockeys, and set national racing dates. Bookmakers from Great Britain made their first appearance on American tracks in 1873 and broadened gambling to the small-time bettor. At that time, bookmaking was the only form of wagering allowed on New York tracks. Horse-racing authorities turned to machine politicians in New York, New Orleans, Chicago, and elsewhere to obtain the repeal (or exemption from enforcement) of laws restricting racing and gambling. Political leaders in New York and other horse-racing centers were willing to help and maintained close connections with track officials.
Further reading: Tom Biracree and Wendy Insinger, The Complete Book of Thoroughbred Horse Racing (Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, 1982); Roger Longrigg, The History of Horse Racing (New York: Stein & Day, 1972); William
H. P. Robertson, The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America (Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall, 1964).
—David L. Porter
World History
