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PREAKNESS AN OLD EVENT ♦ Pimlicos 0,000 Added Money • - t Fixture First Run in 1873. i • Jfamod After "Winner of Dinner Tarty, Afterwards Dixie Stake* — Historic Trophy to Winner. i • i BALTIMORE, Md., April 10.— It has been veil over half a century since the first I Preakness was run at Pimlieo. And the . Preakness course has changed but little, save for more modern and enlarged facili- i ties since that memorable afternoon in the year 1S73, when John F. Chamberlins bay , colt, Survivor, triumphed over Jordan and Co.s ! locally-owned John Bulger, with II. P. Mc- : Graths Artist third. There were twenty- . one subscribers, seven starters, an I the time . for the mile and a half was 2 :43, and the I value to the winner was ? 1,500. By calling the stake the Preakness the Maryland Jockey Club sought to perpetuate the name of the good son of Lexington and Bay Leaf, which, in the colors of M. H. Sanford, of the Preakness Stud Farm, New Jersey, was a victor in the sporting event, the Dinner Party, afterwards famous as the Dixie Stakes. From this modest beginning, the Preakness has grown in value and importance until now it is recognized as one of the greatest of American racing classics. The Perakness was always run at the Spring meeting, and originally the Dixie at the Autumn meeting. The only colts to win the "double event" were Tom Ochiltree, Duke of Magenta, Grenada and The Bard, three-year-olds, acknowledged to be the best of their years. JIIK BARD BEATS STRONG RIVALS. In The Bards year, 18S6. a splendid field went to the post in the Preakness, and a better one it would be hard to duplicate. A. J. Cassatts handsome son of Longfellow and Braciamante, ridden by Sam Fisher, still a ! regular attendant at the Pimlieo races, defeated his stablemate, Eurus, by Eolus dam Majestic, J. McLaughlin up, with Elkwood. another son of Eolus, Minnie Andrews, with W. Dcnohue in the saddle, third. Eolus, sire of three of the starters in the Preakness that year, owned by Major T. W. Doswell of Bullfield, Virginia, was not only a good race horse himself, but his get had stamina as well as speed. Walter Gratz of Philadelphia came very near winning the Saratoga Cup later with Elkwood. In the Cup Elkwood was ridden by the well-known amateur, Harry Kirkwood, one of the finest horsemen in America, and Mr. Harwood always maintained he would have won with Elkwood if he had been allowed to follow his own judgment instead of riding strictly to orders. The Preakness is essentially a race for the sterner sex, as only two fillies have won it since its inaugural, these two being Edward F. .Whitneys Rhine Maiden in 1915 and "Bud" Fishers Nellie Morse in 1924, the latter also capturing the Pimlieo Oaks at the same meeting. HOW VALUE INCREASED. In 1009 the added money in the Preakness 1 was only ,000. This has been increased to ,000, then 5,000 and 5,000. finally to the present figure of 0,000, which makes it one of the most valuable stakes of the turf. The famous Woodlawn Vase war. offered to the Maryland Jockey Club in 1917 as a trophy to the winner of the Preakness by-Thomas Clyde, who obtained permanent possession of it through the prowess of Short Hose. The Woodlawn Vase is a beautiful specimen of the silversmiths art, of massive and 1 j appropriate design, and was made by Tiffany in 1SG0 to the order of Col. R. A. Alexander , of Kentucky, who presented it for competition to the Woodlawn Association of Louisville, Ky. The first winner was the grand mare. • Molly Jackson, owned by Captain Morris, who also won it the succeeding year with 1 Idlewild, the dam of the famous four-miler, Wild Idle. During the Civil War the vase was buried with the rest of the family plate, and on the resumption of racing in 1866 it was captured I by Harry of the West, followed by Merrill. • Then the Dwyer Brothers won it through the victory, in the American Stallion Stakes, • in Louisville in 1877. of the sterling race I horse and sire Bramble. The Coney Island Jockey Club, to which 1 it was transferred by the Dwyers, was the ? next scene of a contest for the vase in 1885. • when F. Gebbards celebrated Eole won it by defeating Major Doswells Bushwac-ker r over the four-mile route. Miss Woodford, • considered one of the greatest mares of all time, brought it back to the Dwyers two years in succession. Pickpocket winning it 1 next and then Raceland in 1893. Sir Excess and Banquet won it from each other on the following occasions it was put In competition, then Gold Heels captured it ! at Morris Park in 1901 and Advance Guard in 1902. This brings, the history of the Woodlawn Vase down to 1905, when, as above stated. Short Hose added it to the permanent collection of the Philadelphia sportsman, Thomas Clyde. OWNERS RELINQUISH PRIVILEGE. Maryland Jockey Club as a trophy for the e When Mr. Clyde turned it over to the e Preakness, it was with the idea that the e winning owner should have the privilege of f naming the track, and feature, for the next t contest. Through the courtesy, however, of the successive winning owners since 1917, the Wroodlawn Vase has been annually added to n the Preakness, and has come to be Identified d with this historic trophy. The -/inning owners, who have siiown n their sportsmanship by returning the vase e to the custody of the Maryland Jockey Club b during the past decade are E. R. Bradley, A. K. Macomber and W. E. Applegate, joint t winners in 1918 with War Cloud and Jack k Hare Jr.; J. K. L. Ross, S. D. Riddle, H. P. Whitney, II. T. Wilson, Walter J. Salmon n twice, "Bud" Fisher and Gifford A. Cochran. For the second time, through the victory last year of Bostonian, Harry Payne Whitney - is in possession of the Woodlawn Vase. », his other winner being Broomspun in 1921. I. and it is understood he has again kindly y consented to add it to the Preakne-s ir. n 1928.
