Here and There on the Turf: Turf of Fifty Years Ago. Wide Territory Covered. Racing in 37 States. Where Sport Was Held, Daily Racing Form, 1924-12-16

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Here and There on the Turf Turf of Fifty Years Ago. Wide Territory Covered. Eacing in 37 States. Where Sport Was Held. Just now there is going forward a decided expansion of the American turf, but it will be a long time before as wide a territory is covered as there was fifty years ago. There is more racing, but the same territory does net begin to be covered by the thoroughbred sport. In 1875 there was racing conducted "in thirty-seven different states and in New York alone there were twenty-nine different racing grounds. Of course these meetings were for the most part short ones, but it surely was a wide territory that was covered. It is interesting to look over the racing map of 1875. Here are the states and the different points where racing was conducted that year: New York New York City Jerome Park, Prospect Park Brooklyn, Saratoga Springs, Hudson, Schoharie Valley, Earlville, Goshen, Oswego, Lcroy, Ogdensburg, Newark, Corning, Parkville, L. I.; Shelby, New Dorp, Medina, Amenia, Canton, Fleetwood Park, Pen Yan, Sinclairsville, Cuba, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, Schenectady, Elmira, Danville, Water-town and Lockport. New Jersey Long Branch. Monmouth Park, Jersey City West Side. Illinois Chicago Dexter Park, Aurora, Nokomis, Frceport, Marengo, Galesburg, Sullivan, Chester, Lincoln, Clinton, Earlville, Decatur, Davenport, Tiskilwa, Fairfield, Quincy, Dixon, Sycamore, Mendota, .Hillsboro and Postville. Ohio Cincinnati, Coschocton, Columbus, Toledo, Cleveland, Newark, Zanesville, Hartford, Seville, Sandusky, Birmingham, Dayton, Plain City, Portsmouth, Chagrin Falls, Delaware and North Amherst. California San Francisco Oakland Park, Bay District course, Golden Gate Park, Half Moon Bay, Los Angeles, Petaluma, Yorka, Marysville, Stockton, Sacramento and Modest a. Indiana Indianapolis, South Bend, Cambridge City, Fort Wayne, Goshen, Hartford City, Evansville, La Fayette, Waterloo and Richmond. . Pennsylvania Wilkes-Barre, Corry, Titus-ville, Park City, Lancaster, Conneautville, Erie and Lewistown. Michigan Ypsilanti, Battle Creek, Ea3t Saginaw, Big Rapids, Grand Haven, Pontiac; Cairo and Stillwater. Kentucky Lexington, Louisville inaugural meeting, Frankfort, Newport and Crab Orchard. Virginia Norfolk, Warrenton, Manassas, I tedmont, and Richmond. South Carolina Charleston, Camden and Columbia. Georgia Savannah, Atlanta, Augusta and Macon. Texas Galveston, Dallas, Houston, Austin and Hempsted. Maryland Baltimore Pimlico and Westminster. Missouri St. Louis, St. Joseph and Montgomery City. Tennessee Nashville, Gallatin and The Meadows. Louisiana New Orleans and Rapides. Mississippi Jackson and Vicksburg. Alabama Mobile. Florida Jacksonville. Connecticut Hartford Charter Oak Park and West Merideu. i Rhode Island Newport and Narragansett Park. Iowa Burlington and Council Bluffs. New Hampshire Nashua and Keene. Montana Helena. Wisconsin Milwaukee, La Crosse, Water-town, Stevens Point and Beaver Dam. Colorado Denver and Colorado Springs. Maine Portland and Gardiner. Nebraska Omaha. Kansas Kansas City. Minnesota St. Paul, Austin and Mankato. West Virginia Parkersburg. Massachusetts Readville, Brocton, Northampton, Lynn and Myricville. Nevada Reno. North Carolina Charlotte and Wilmington. Vermont Burlington, St. Albans and At-tleboro. District of Columbia Washington. When one looks over this circuit of thoroughbred racing the changes that have come to the turf are realized. Those were the days of small purses and an infinitely smaller thoroughbred production, but there were horses enough and sportsmen enough to carry on such sport. Most of these districts when racing was held had short meetings, but several of them conducted two during the year, and two of goodlv length. That was a time right following the Civil War and, though the country was still suffering from its effects, there was time and money for such racing. It will be observed that several of the states are still in the racing column, but many others banished the thoroughbred. He is coming buck slowly, but surely, and there is still the hope that there may be a return to the time when thirty-seven states welcomed the sport. Although the initial meeting of the Miami Jockey Club over the new racing ground is not to open until January 15, there are already horses enough on hand to give a good entertainment. Stables have been shaping for a considerable time and many others are on the way from various sections. The presence of Carl Wiedemanns In Me-moriam is of vast interest in the sport. Two years ago this son of McGee was considered by many as the best three-year-old of the season. He had to his credit a score over Zev, though in a later special between the two Zev was winner in one of the greatest races of the year. Bob Gilmore, who developed In Memoriam, was able to bring him back to the rac?s only once this year, but before shipping to Miami he expressed a confidence that he would be campaigning him steadily before the end of the Miami season. When the full strength of the New York delegation reaches Miami it will be found that there will be several horses well calculated to give the Wiedemann champion an adequate test.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1920s/drf1924121601/drf1924121601_2_3
Local Identifier: drf1924121601_2_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800