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history of preakness first Run in 1873 but Discontinued From 1889 to 1909. » Outstanding Incidents in Connection With Most Popular of Maryland Jockey Club Fixtures. i | BALTIMORE. Md., May 15.— It has been over half a century since the first Preakness .■was run at Pimlico. The Preakness course has changed but little, save for more modern tind enlarged facilities since that memorable afternoon in the year 1873 when John F. Chamberlins bay colt. Survivor, triumphed over Jordan and Co.s locally owned John Bulger, with H. P. McGraths Artist third. There Were twenty-one subscribers, seven starters, and the time for the mile and a half was 2:43, and the value to the winner was ,500. i 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. San-ford, 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 leading American racing classics. ,i The Preakness was always run at the spring meeting, and oiiginally 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. i In The Bards year, 1886, 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 his stablemate, Eurus, by Eolus, dam Majestic, J. McLaughlin up, with Elkwood, another son of Eolus, Minnie Andrews, with ,W. Donohue in the saddle, third. I Eolus, sire of three of the starters in the Preakness that year, owned by Maj. T. W. Doswell of Bullfield, Va., 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 permitted 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 Pimlico Oaks at the same meeting. In 1919 Sir Barton won the Preakness and the Kentucky Derby, the only horse to hold that record until Gallant Fox, Burgoo King and Omaha duplicated the feat in 1930, 1932 and 1935, respectively. I The mighty Man o War was the Preakness winner of 1920. and none doubt that he would have added the Kentucky Derby to his credit if his owner had started him in the noted Blue Grass fixture. The famous Woodlawn Vase was 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 appropriate design, and was made by Tiffany in 1860 to the order of Col. R. A. Alexander of Kentucky, who presented it for competition to the Woodlawn Association of Louisville, Ky. i The first winner was the grand mare, Molly Jackson, owned by Captain Morris, who also won it the succeeding year with Idlcwild, 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 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 horse and sire Bramble. The Coney Island Jockey Club, to which 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 Maj. Doswells Bushwacker over the four-mile route. Miss Woodford, considered one of the greatest mares of aj,l timi. brought it back to the Dwyers two years in succession. Pickpocket winning it 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. When Mr. Clyde turned it over to the Maryland Jockey Club as a trophy for the Preakness, it was with the idea that the winning owner should have the privilege of naming the track, and feature, for the next contest. Through the courtesy, however, of the successive winning owners since 1917. the Woodlawn Vase has been annually added to the Preakness, and has come to be identified with this historic trophy.
