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PIONEER RACING IN AMERICA New York October 8 The Piping Rock Racing Association will revive horse racing In this state with a meeting which is to begin next Saturday on its new course and in so doing it is getting back to first principles in the sports of the turf Strictly speaking there will be no track which really signi ¬ fies an artificially constructed path of earth while i race course is on the turf When horse racing lirst began in this country the races were run oil the turf as they arc in England and there were no grandstands There is no grandstand at Piping Rock and the races will be on the turf the horses running through one of the prettiest parts of Long Island IslandLong Long Island is historic with its race courses and it horses and in addition to the Queens course where American Eclipse and Sir Henry raced there was a course long before it was thought of on Hemp stead Plains When Col Richard Nicholls captured New York from the Dutch in 1661 and became first governor of the colony under British rule he intro ¬ duced tlie sport of horso racing Governor Nicholls visited tbe little English settlement of llcmpstead twentytwo miles from New York in IGOo and on the plains laid out a turf course which he named Newmarket after the famous English course where hunting matches and horse races had been estab Iished by James I only fifty years earlier earlierNewmarket Newmarket without doubt was the first race course in America Governor Lovelace whof suc ¬ ceeded Governor Nicholls followed the policy of Governor Nicholls fo the improving and encourag ¬ ing a good breed of dorses and ordered the justices at Hcmpstead to receive subscriptions from all that are disposed to run for a crown or silver or the value thereof in good wheat wheatAs As late as 1752 the Subscription Plate was ruu at Newmarket and it is probable that it had been run for eighty years annually The contest was at two mile heats Spring and fall meetings were held at Newmarket The exact location of this track is not known David Jones one of the oldest horse wen on Ixiig Island who owned Mambrino son ot Messenger and sire of Abdallah says it was at New Hyde Park and took in the site of the present rail ¬ road station there Richard Browcr who has lived in Hcmpstead eightyseven years says that a part of the old course was on ground where Garden City now stands with the start and finish just south of the Cathedral and the main sweep of the course off to the west and north in the direction of New Hyde Park As Garden City is Jess than two miles from New Hyde Park the recollections of these two old Long Islanders almost coincide coincideOnly Only fragmentary records of the doings at New ¬ market are in existence but these contain lhi names of such distinguished horse owners as Lewis Morris the first Governor of New Jersey Michael Kearny who married his daughter and founded tha family from which came the gallant Phil Kearny of civil War fame Col Anthony Rutgers Dr Thomas Hamilton of New Jersey John De Lancev Governor Eden of Maryland Gen Nathaniel Coles the breeder of American Eclipse and Lewis Morris Jr one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde ¬ pendence pendencePrior Prior to the Revolution there existed near Jamaica tlie Beaver Pond course where races occasionally took place but whether at regular intervals is not known In 1819 the second racing association organ ized in this state was formed to establish a traek or course at Bath L I One or two meetings were held there l ut the location proved unsatisfactory and in 1821 the association built the Union course The opening of the Union seems to have closed both the Bath and Newmarket courses so far as impor ¬ tant meetings were concerned concernedThat That the love for racing for its own sake still exists is borne out by the interest shown in tlw threedays meeting to bp given by the Piping Rock Racing Association at its new course October 12 1C and If Not only have prominent men heretofore notTr identified with the sport contributed purses 1 and plate but many new names have been added to the list of owners This is one of the noticeable features of the meeting The racing colors of W Averill Harriman son of the late E II Harriman will be Been for the first time Young Mr Harri inan will be represented In the Booger Red Gallo way Championship race to be run on the first day by Pain Pain is by Africander out of Shaft and Is a halfsister to Zeus one of the best horses rac ¬ ing in this countrv last year yearA A It Gray one of the authors of the PercyGray law under which racing flourished in New York for so many years has expressed his opinion that the Piping Rock Association nas taken tbe right steps t bring the sport back on a sane and safe basis lie has never been actively identified with racing but will race a horse of his own breeding at Piping Uock having entered Balaguard in the neck Plate This horse is by the champion long ¬ distance runner of a few y ars ago Advance Guard and out of Balaklava Advance Guard is now one of the Jockey Clubs Breeding Bureau stallions and Balaguard will be the first of the get of these stal ¬ lions rico ricoOthers Others new to tho sport who will play a promi lent part at tbe mreting include Peter G Gerry ibo will ride his own horse Miss Margaret Whit ¬ ney Paul I Cravath Jason Waters Mrs Henry Bell Mrs A H Higginson W A Hazard J Parker Kirlin Alden Sanford PIodget Harvev S Latew A Yarrow L T Martin Edward Whitney C II Robbins Norman Macfarlane and F PittsburgE B HiiKRcy of Pittsburg E M Weld comes back to the sport and will be wH represented in the crosscountrr races He hopes to win the Harbor Hill Steeplechase with JCingcash JCingcashGeorge George P Eustis of Washington rccentlr pur ¬ chased from Samuel Ross tlie threeyearold juniper Utmost in order that lie might be represented iii the Ilarbor Hill Mr Kustis is a recent recruit to toClarenco Clarenco H Mackay who lias donated both the psree and plate for the Harbor Hill since its ineep Uon has cabled his congratulations over the entry 1 SNomT of the horses that will race during the theleotin leotin will IK stabled at the course as there Is Isinsufficient insufficient room They will be stabled at Bel jiiont Park and takcu over by special Ualus on race
