view raw text
j THE STORY OF THE SPRINTER XXIV. j By SALVATOB. .; j 1 I In our last chapter was introduced the first stake event for the sprinters that was given in America. Not a compromise, like the Congress Hall, first given at Saratoga in 1879, that stake having been a heat race at six furlongs, but a straight six furlongs dash, without qualification otherwise as to distance. This was the Passaic Stakes, inaugurated at old Monmouth Park, Long Branch, N. J., in 1883 and run there annually up to and including 1893, when repressive legislation killed racing in Jersey where it still remains unresuscitated at the present writing. Owing to its historic nature, we gave the complete roster of Passaic winners, which included for the most part famous horses only the names of which still live and always will, in Americas turf annals. The first one was breeze, the speedy filly by Alarm. Then came Aranza, one of the most brilliant daughters of imported Bonnie Scotland, and then imported Pontiac, the black horse that earlier that same season 1885 had won the Suburban Handicap on the occasion of its second running, and that later on, when put to the stud, begot Ramapo, the Suburban winner of 1894. Singularly enough, all three of these, the first trio of winners of the Passaic Stakes, were owned and raced by Pierre Lorillard, then the leading owner of the Metropolitan turf. It looked very much as if he had a mortgage on the stake! But for the next three seasons in succession it was won by Little Minch he being the only horse that ever succeeded in winning it more than once. "The Minch," as he was familiarly known, was, when he first won this stake, in 1886, owned by Blohm and Co., who, like the Dwyer Brothers, when they first attained celebrity, were the proprietors of a butcher shop in Brooklyn. They had picked him up for the proverbial song several years before, after he had been discarded as worthless by a prominent owner. That same season of 1886 the pony, he was only about fifteen hands high, being now six years old and with five campaigns behind him, Blohm and Co. decided that he couldnt pay dividends much longer, on any logical expectation. So, a good chance to unload him presenting, they "put him in the bank," selling him for ,500 to George Hankins of Chicago, who, with his partner, R. A. Johnson, raced under the nom de course of the Chicago Stable. How bad a guess Blohm and Co. had made on Little Minch was shown by the fact that he raced on for four seasons more, not only came back to win the Passaic in both 1887 and 1888, but numerous other stake races, as well as many purses, and finally wound up with a record of eighty-five wins and 8,225. Little Minch was a stallion and it is a somewhat remarkable thing that the only male thoroughbred in our turf history that ever won more races, the great Kingston, with a record of eighty-nine wins, also won the Passaic Stakes in 1892 when eight years of age; "The Minch" having won it at the ages of six, seven and eight. That most sensational speed marvel Tenny won it as a three-year-old; and the renowned gelding Raceland, the popular hero of many seasons, known to race-goers as "Old Bones," carried it off in 1891 when he ran the straight course at Monmouth in 1:12, the record for the event. The introduction of sprinting, and finally of sprinting stakes, first for two-year-olds and later for horses of all ages had, as might be expected, a far-reaching influence upon the evolution of race track construction in this country. History, in a way, repeated itself. Over a hundred, years before the "race paths," the short straightaways where the quarter-horses staged their set-tos, had been replaced by the regulation oval courses, as a rule, of one mile, where the four-mile horses "did their stuff." Now the pendulum swung back and once again arose the demand for short straightaways, where the modern sprinters could scorch the earth. Several years ago the present writer contributed to Daily Racing Form a series of sketches entitled "Shooting the Chutes," in which the record of these modern straightaways was traced. It was then shown that the first one ever constructed was at old Jerome Park, New Yoik. This famous course, which disappeared from the map nearly forty years ago, was known as the "saddle-bags" track, owing to its peculiar shape, due to the "lay of the land" upon which it was built. It really consisted of two irregularly-shaped loops, one side of which was fairly straight, while the other had a deep, curved indentation. The shape of the course, as well as the soil and construction, made Jerome Park very slow normally speaking, it was the slowest of all the historic ones in and about New York. There was much complaint about this and to partially meet this complaint the management built the first "chute" in American turf history; this being a straightaway extension of the home stretch at its upper end. It was intended for two-year-old racing exclusively, especially the Juvenile Stakes still in existence at Belmont Park which was inaugurated in 1874 as a half-mile dash. For many years it was used only for events for that age, but in its last period races for all ages were occasionally given over it. At that time, however, another short course was constructed, which was called the "Titan Course" and was 1,400 yards in length, admitting of races of five, six and almost seven furlongs being run over it. Here was given a stake for sprinters called the Chappaqua Handicap, at 1,400 yards, the full length of the course, in the years 1887 and 1888, being won the first season by Yum Yum and the second and last by Little Minch; after which it was discontinued, owing to the passing of Jerome Park. The second chute for sprinters, in modern times, was that built at Churchill Downs. Louisville, in 1883. It was an extension of the home stretch, at the upper end, allowing for races of six furlongs. Nothing today remains of it but a small segment which, when the course was remodeled, in the mid-1890s, when the Kentucky Derby was reduced from i a race of a mile and a half to one of a mile I and a quarter, was left to start that event from, in order to obviate starting the horses on the turn at the three-quarters pole of the main course. The Louisville six furlongs chute was discarded at the time mentioned because of the complaints that it was impossible for the spectators or reporters to see the contests properly; also that owing to this the jockeys indulged in a great deal of questionable riding. This chute was slightly down grade and from the outset the horses ran in sensational time there. It had been in use only a few days when Pearl Jennings ran six furlongs over it in 1:13, this being the first time that 1:14 had been beaten in America. But at the fall meeting of 1883 Force, which had run second to Ed Corri-gans mare in her record-breaking dash, took up 121 pounds and ran in 1:13, flat; while at the same meeting Lizzie S., with 118 pounds up, ran six furlongs heats in 1:13 and 1:13, which still remains a record of its kind. Forces 1:13 stood as the American six furlongs mark from 1883 until 1887, when, at Salem, Ore., the California-bred two-year-old Oregon, with 110 pounds up, was credited with winning the Farewell Stakes in 1:12, but, while at first accepted as a genuine record and so given official recognition in Goodwins Guide then the standard authorityit was later rejected as unauthentic, and Force regained the honors, which he held until 188, when Tom Hood, still over that Louisville chute, equaled his performance and divided the laurels, such as they were. However, the deluge was at hand. In 1889, seeing that Jerome Parks career was about at an end as the civic development of New York made the ground which it occupied too valuable to be longer used for racing purposes, a group of leading Metropolitan turfmen formed the New York Jockey Club and built Morris Park, which, all things considered, was the most revolutionary course of modern times, as there the sprinter at once took the center of the stage and became the outstanding performer. This was due to the construction of the famous "toboggan slide" first called the "Eclipse Course" which was a six furlongs straightaway that resembled the present Widener course at Belmont Park, with the exception that, while the Widener course starts from below the main oval at Belmont and, running diagonally, traverses it and the infield from the northeast to finish in front of the stands, the Morris Park "toboggan slide" started from the opposite point of the compass the northwest and ran from the far upper turn down through the infield to finish at the stands. There is, and always has been, much criticism of the Widener course on the ground that the spectators in the grandstand see practically nothing of the contests run over it including the Futurity, for which it was built until the race is almost over. This criticism did not apply to the Morris Park "toboggan slide." Its last half mile spanned the portion of the course where the horses crossed the main track and began traversing the infield, and they ran this entire distance directly under the eyes of the spectators, who obtained a magnificent view of them and a perfect comprehension of all the features of the race. However, the "toboggan slide" was not perfectly straight. The last half mile was, but the first quarter of a mile bent off slightly and the horses had to bear over somewhat when they entered the last half. There was a down grade all the way from the start, but about a third of the way from the finish, in the middle of the infield of the main course which the "toboggan" traversed, there was a spot where the ground was level. After this was passed it began dropping again and continued so to the end. The writer well remembers the first day that he ever visited Morris Park. The real thing that he wanted most to see was the far-famed "toboggan slide" over which for several seasons all short distance records had been smashed to atoms, the speed attained there seeming incredible from the standpoint of previous marks. Imaginatively he had expected to see something that verily resembled a toboggan slide, but instead, as he stood at the finish and gazed up the course, he could hardly believe his eyes. While it certainly "ran down hill," the grade was so slight that at first it was almost imperceptible. It was only when one took in the entire strip of six furlongs, with the accompanying "lay of the land," that one realized the exact topography. None of the extant descriptions of Morris Park tell the precise amount of down grade there was in the "toboggan slide." It was much less than was, and still is, generally supposed, and to a certain extent was neutralized by the bend entering the last half and the "dip" near the finish; but these things did not affect the marvelous speed shown over it, of which mention will be made in the next article.
