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OLD-TIME RACING AROUND NEW YORK. Now Forgotten Tracks That Were the Scenes of Memorable Contests Between North and South. Be it frolic, fight or finance its America to the fore. As in other branches of sport America long ago established its supremacy on the turf, and with the war abroad cutting down the supply of thoroughbred stock our position at the top will not even be challenged for manv years to come. Some of Englands best, including that fine horse Short Grass, recent winner of the Empire City Handicap, have been imported to supplement our own royally-bred lines. .Inst as America leads the world in racing, so does New York lead the country. It was in the vicinity of the metropolis that racing got its first start on this side or the Atlantic, back in 1004. This city and viucinity have had more race courses and tracks than probably even London itself. From time to time there have been most discouragiug conditions and stumbling blocks placed in the way of those interested in the thoroughbred and competition, lint still the sport has prospered. The anti-betting laws of 190S, which threatened the extinction of racing in this state, were nothing new. Even as far back as 1S19 Laws were enacted that forced the abandonment of several courses and put a halt to all racing. But the, following three years saw the inauguration of a halcyon era on the American turf. Temporary discouragements are sure to crop up from time to time, but they will never wipe out the game. It has been declared that in richness of associations the American turf suffers by comparison with the English. The history of racing in this country fails to bear out that assertion. We may not have any classic that approaches the famous Derby of Epsom, but there is many a fixture and many a course here that ahouuils in romance stories of fabulous wagers, intense sectional rivalry, wonderful feats of speed and endurance. Racing was established hero in pro-Revolutionary days, witli the laying out of tin? old Inion course near what is now the course of the Piping Rock Racing Association, at Locust Aalley, Long Island. It was at the old Inion course that American Eclipse anil Sir Henry ran their memorable match race in four mile heats, with 0,000 as the stakes. That race, staged in May, 1823, is said to have been the most famous in American racing annals. Eclipse beat Sir Henry. The race inaugurated the golden age of the American turf. There was an intense intersectioual rivalry in those antebellum days, and more than 60,000 persons crowded the course, most of them betting on Eclipse, the northern favorite. Those were the days of four-mile heats and horses Ave re bred and trained to go the route. Eclipse, not to be confounded with the Eclipse which av:is imported shortly after the civil Avar, was a grandson of the great Messenger, progenitor of many a turf star and of at least 10,000 trotters. The .Messenger strain has accounted for a host of records in the light harness world. The inherent ability to go the route and pace in long heats Avas turned to fine account on the trotting track. Messenger Av:is lorn at Piping Rock and in 1812 was given a military burial in the Quaker colony at Locust Anlley. The Tnion course Avas the scene of another notable long distance race. It was run on October 13, 1832, and Avas an open event for stakes of 1916.sh,000. They had to go five heats of four miles each before Black Alalia av.ms declared the winner. The first heat Avas Avon by Black Maria, Avhich ran a dead heat Avith Trifle in the second four miles. Trifle won the third heat. Lady Relief the fourth anil Black Maria the fifth. The dead heat brought out the fastest time, 7:55. The final North and South struggle at the Pnion course was staged in 18-15, when the Northern entry, Fashion, was beaten by Kirkmaus Peyton:!. The issue was decided in two straight heats of four miles--anil how the men from Dixie cleaned up! Only the year before Fashion had set a record for four miles at 7:32 !, in beating Boston, the Southern entry, owned by Col. James Long of Washington. Poytona Avon a great race at Nashville in 1S43, for a sweepstakes of 0,000. The Kirkmau entry Avent four heats of four miles. Kentucky has revived and abandoned the four-mile races of the past, although it has eliminated the heat feature. In the Kentucky Endurance Stakes on October 7, 1911, Messenger Boy AVas timed in 7:14, and the next year Sotemia AA-ent 7:lMf., to a new Avorlds record. In the middle of the fifties Lexington was the king of all over the long distance route and set a record of 7:19 for four miles. On October 17, 1.S07, at Jerome Park. Kentucky, Avhich Avas sired by Lexington, av.is sent against the record and Avent the four miles in 7:31 July the year before, at Jerome Park right here, in the Inaugural Stakes, Kentucky was a winner in straight heats, being timed in 7:35 and 7-41.. The old Union course Avas superseded in 1848 by the Fashion course on Long Island. The old Newmarket course, Avhich Avas abandoned in 1819, was located on the Hempstead Plains on Long Island. The railroad spur that leads to the polo fields at Meadow Brook passes over the scene AAhere once New Yorks fashion and beauty travelled to see the thoroughbred in action. There Avas another Pnion course, in what is nOAV East New York, and the memory of Avhich is still preserved in the name of the locality. The Centre ville course Avas also located on Long Island. In 1S03 racing Avas established at Saratoga, and in 1800 Jerome Park Avas opened. Then came Prospect Park, Liter called Gravesend, and Monmouth Park in New Jersey. Other tracks located in the metropolitan section were Morris Park, Gutteuhurg, Gloucester, N. J.; the llobokeu or Seacauclis course and the old truck at Paterson. Later came Brighton Beach, Sheeps-head Bay, Belmont Park and Empire City. I.efore the growth of trotting running races Avere featured at the county fairs throughout the country. Many a romantic tale could be spun about the old courses of the South, the famous track at Lexington, founded back in 182S; the picturesque Churchill Downs at Louisville and the older courses of Virginia, Maryland, the Carol inns, Avhich existed in pre-RevoIutinary times. New Orleans had jthe aristocrat among southern, courses in the Metairie track, Avhich had a Avorthy ri-al in exclusiveness in the Charleston track. There are quite a number of veterans of the 1 Hemic Riley type Avhose memories hearken back i to the ante-bellum racing days, and they are unanimous in their opinion that the stake horses of that time could have held their own Avith the stiirs of the present day. It is true that records h:iA-e been bettered from year to year, but it must be remembered that track conditions of the long ago Avere nothing like those of this era. The trainer of 1800 Avould no more have thought of sending his horse onto a track of the type now extant than Jimmy Rowe, for example, Avonld consider training his horses on a cinder path. The old courses Avere slow, and the horses sunk in the dirt almost up to their fetlocks. It is true that Sotemia clipped almost ten seconds oft" the old marks of Lexington, but is is a question if Sotemia could huA-o gone the route in another heat. New York Sun.
