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16 2 The American Jockey Club and the Rebirth of the New York Turf The recreation . . . has every accessory which can render it attractive and invigorating . The drive though the Summer beauties of Central Park, and the fresh green lanes of Westchester in the perfect June weather, is alone a sufficient delight. In the surroundings and incidents of the course itself, the gaiety and animation of the crowd, the shifting kaleidoscope of bright colors and pretty faces, the inspiration of happiness from the sight of thousands of happy people, the music, the fresh air and the sunshine, the excitement of the brief contests—all these are elements of a rare and varied enjoyment, such as sends the jaded worker back with a fresher heart to his labors. —”Spring Meeting at Jerome Park,” New York Times, 10 June 1871 N orthern racing was virtually moribund from the mid-1840s through 1861, even though an 1854 New York State law permitted the formation of turf organizations “to improve the breed of horses.” In 1861, for instance, a one-day meet at the Fashion Course was the only race in the entire Northeast. However, one year later, though the Civil War was in full swing, there were twenty-four days of racing in the Northeast. Racing at Long Island’s Union Course and at Philadelphia and Boston tracks helped Northerners temporarily forget about the carnage of the day. In 1863, there were five-day meets in New Jersey and Philadelphia, a threeday meet at the Centerville trotting track, and, most important, a four-day meet at Saratoga Springs, an upstate resort popular with New York’s affluent.1 Saratoga was the scene of trotting starting on 14 August 1847, when the renowned Lady Suffolk won the first race at the Saratoga Trotting Course, and one month later, the track hosted a thoroughbred race. There were occasional races there over the next few years, including even some steeplechase events, but thoroughbred racing did not take hold there until the early 1860s, mainly owing to John Morrissey, the former American boxing champion and New York City’s American Jockey Club and New York Turf • 17 leading gambler. The success of flat racing at Saratoga directly led to the organization of the American Jockey Club (AJC) after the Civil War by financier Leonard Jerome and his friends, who reestablished thoroughbred racing in New York City as a high-prestige sport.2 Historian Melvin Adelman, the preeminent student of nineteenth-century New York sport, argues that the resurgence of New York horsing was owing to a variety of factors. Wealthy New Yorkers were creating racing stables because of personal satisfaction with their horses’ accomplishments and a desire to enhance and certify their elite status. They continued to claim that racing was essential to promote the improvement of the breed that benefited the stock needed for the military and other uses. The wartime decline of the southern breeding industry provided new opportunities for northern breeders who could test their stock at nearby New York tracks. Local turfmen made important innovations in the competition , most notably the abandonment of heat racing and the adoption of the English dash system that New York’s antebellum courses had used sparingly. Thereafter, shorter contests became the principal form of thoroughbred racing in the United States after New York adopted it because it enabled more races each day, often accompanied by larger purses. The result was more betting and less harm to horses that competed in longer races.3 Other developments internal to the sport included the start of two-year-old racing; the emergence of permanent stakes races, most notably the Belmont Stakes in 1867; handicap events (making favorite horses carry heavier loads); and claiming races (contests in which all competitors can be purchased, usually at a set price up to post time). The purpose of claiming races was to discourage an owner or trainer from entering an obviously superior horse in a race against inferior competition to secure an easy win since another owner could “claim,” or buy, that horse at below market value.4 There were also external factors that encouraged the rebirth of racing, which was an integral part of the postwar boom in sports. These causes included urbanization ; the rise of industrial capitalism; technological innovations, particularly the telegraph, which facilitated communication; and the expansion of railroads to carry horses and fans to distant racetracks. The rise of sport in general was also indebted to the emergence of a...

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