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1 1 The Rise of Horse Racing in America Having been present at most of the large gatherings of this country, we do not hesitate to say this exceeded in number any previous assemblage of the People. We were at the Ascot races in England last year when London poured forth its tens of thousands to get a view of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. . . . How many people were present . . . we do not pretend to say; but we have no hesitation in saying that there was a larger number at the Union Course yesterday. —James W. Webb, publisher, New York Courier and Enquirer, on the Fashion-Peytona race of 1845 H orse racing was the most important sport in early America, even if not permitted in certain colonies because of concerns about gambling. The sport provided the emerging upper class with a means to demonstrate prowess, manliness , and self-confidence; display wealth; and certify social status. Racing developed in the last third of the seventeenth century, although there apparently was a race as early as 1607 when the Jamestown town council banned impromptu racing in the streets to protect pedestrians.1 The first formally sponsored race took place on Long Island in 1665, just one year after the British took over New Netherlands from the Dutch. Governor Richard Nicolls organized annual races at the Newmarket Track in Hempstead, a one-mile course, in emulation of the pleasures of the Restoration Court, naming the course in honor of King Charles II’s favorite track.2 Horse racing in the late seventeenth century was a vital aspect of the lifestyle of “great planters” who employed the sport to emulate the English gentry, gain social status, and demonstrate their manliness. By the mid–eighteenth century, the sport was firmly established in the upper-class social calendar in several colonial towns, including New York, Williamsburg, Annapolis, and Charles Town. Elite jockey clubs were established to supervise the sport and operate enclosed racetracks where thoroughbreds competed. After the United States became independent, the 2 • The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime turf’s aristocratic pretensions, along with the gambling, dampened interest in the Northeast, and racing was widely barred. However, by the 1820s, elite gentlemen revived the sport in New York, the scene of major events from 1823 through 1845. Thereafter, economic problems and moral questions about horse race gambling virtually killed the sport in the Northeast. The sport remained popular in the South, especially among major plantation owners, and New Orleans became the new center of thoroughbred racing. Racing in the Colonial South Horse racing was the most popular sport in the southern colonies by the late seventeenth century. Leading Virginia great planters dominated the “sport of kings,” imitating the social life of English country squires. Historian T. H. Breen has argued that the pervasive gambling among elite colonial Virginians reflected their individualism, sense of honor, materialism, and even their livelihood. Equestrians risked their future on a tobacco crop, which was hardly a sure thing. Their product was susceptible to poor weather, pestilence, and floods; getting lost on the way to market because of storms or piracy; and ending up in oversaturated markets. Planters were even vulnerable to unscrupulous overseas partners. These men also sought excitement and risk in their leisure pursuits. At a time when few people owned horses, planters used the sport to demonstrate their courage, brawn, and intelligence, riding their own working horses over short distances on rural roads. They used the contests to win valuable wagers, gain respect, earn peer recognition, and promote a sense of shared values and consciousness among the gentry. These gentlemen employed the rituals of betting and racing to certify their superior social status and encourage fellowship between the landed elite and the community of mass spectators at the races, thereby reinforcing traditional patterns of respect and deference. The elite also used the sport to deflect potential social conflict among themselves by establishing formal agreements and social conventions to facilitate racing and betting. Legal proscriptions barred the common folk from betting with great planters because they were overstepping class boundaries and could not afford to go into debt. Planters relied on the courts to settle betting disputes, providing a role model to the masses.3 By 1700, Virginian planters raced at twelve tracks and twenty-four by 1730. In the 1740s, rich planters began importing expensive purebred Arabian horses from England to use exclusively for racing. The offspring of the first thoroughbreds were larger...

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