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9. A Glorious Decade of Racing: The New York Turf, 1897–1907
- Syracuse University Press
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235 9 A Glorious Decade of Racing The New York Turf, 1897–1907 It is clear that never was legitimate racing in such a prosperous condition. This is shown in the great increase of public patronage and public confidence, which has enabled the various associations to offer premiums of greater value than in the past and to plan stakes for the future which eventually will have no parallel in the world in value, and which are the mainstay of the breeding industry. —Spirit of the Times, 8 February 1902 M etropolitan New York continued to be the dominant site of American racing at the turn of the nineteenth century. Between 1896 and 1905, the total gross receipts of the licensed New York tracks rose from about $500,000 to nearly $4 million, with total purses of $1.5 million.1 The city had two of the most prestigious tracks in Sheepshead Bay and Morris Park, the latter replaced in 1905 by the superlative new Belmont Park, and successful proprietary courses. There was also the celebrated upstate track at Saratoga that was part of the New York circuit. The metropolitan jockey clubs sponsored some of the richest and most prestigious races in the world, like the Futurity, the Realization Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, which drew the largest crowds in the United States. Racing prospered for around ten years despite major problems with the thriving illegal off-track gambling business and constant pressure from moral reformers who opposed all horse race betting. At a time when racing was halted across the country, including such racing centers as Chicago and St. Louis, and in nearly every state in the Union, the sport was flourishing in New York. Racing aficionados expected continued prosperity for the New York turf, but the election of progressive governor Charles Evans Hughes in 1907 led to the temporary demise of their beloved sport. The Proprietary Racetracks Aqueduct Racetrack The racing seasons began each spring at Aqueduct on Long Island, just off Jamaica Bay, and ended there in November. Attendees spent $0.50 on transportation, $0.10 236 • The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime cents for a program, and $2.00 for admission. Aqueduct featured the credit system of betting previously employed at Gravesend and Morris Park. It mainly appealed to serious wagerers and betting addicts, not to casual fans who preferred the ambience of the more established elite tracks that showcased the star thoroughbreds, like Morris Park, which opened a few weeks later.2 The press had modest expectations for the track. As the Times explained in 1899, “A meeting under the auspices of the Queens County Jockey Club at the little Aqueduct racecourse does not bring very high-class racing, but it serves very well the purpose for which it is intended—to arouse an interest in the doings of the thoroughbred horse after a winter’s rest.”3 The Tribune was far more critical, complaining that the racing stewards “were so apathetic and inefficient that scandals were frequent, and there is reason to believe that several of the races were flagrant jobs.”4 Management made significant improvements in the Queens County Jockey Club’s shoddy physical plant for opening day, 27 April 1897, but the ambience was still far behind the feel of other metropolitan facilities. On that bleak and blustery day, Aqueduct attracted five thousand spectators who watched competitive contests with high-quality fields. The course had several failings, particularly a long homestretch that was not visible to most spectators. Aqueduct had a reputation for doing things on the cheap, as spectators discovered on opening day, 1902, when poorly manufactured programs fell apart. Another problem was that until 1905, betting commissioners who worked the grandstand serviced women bettors . These agents, sometimes mere boys working for bookmakers, gave women terrible odds and often absconded with winning bets.5 Aqueduct was the lowest-grossing track in metropolitan New York and in 1898 made just about half of the second lowest. The track subsequently grew in public esteem. On opening day, six years later, fifteen thousand people attended, despite the frigid weather, to watch the $8,000 Carter Handicap. The only thing missing was the presence of society. The track that year grossed nearly $400,000.6 Jamaica Racetrack The press in the late 1890s speculated about Tammany Hall bosses setting up their own track. The Tribune in 1898 recommended that Boss Croker, who had five years’ experience in thoroughbred racing, head the executive committee...