Colins Ghost

Why is Saratoga the mecca of American thoroughbred racing? Simply stated: No other track has maintained its preeminence in the hearts and minds of race goers for such an extended period of time.

Image: The Saratoga grandstand, circa 1905 (Library of Congress)

Over 100 years ago, the track inspired this description found in a news story about opening day in 1907:

“You have seen the horses race around Sheepshead’s beautiful course, you have won and lost bets to the accompaniment of beach breezes at Brighton Beach, you have inhaled the fragrance which the surroundings of Belmont Park affords and you have watched your horses going into the lead in Gravesend’s broad stretches, but it’s a dollar to a peanut that you never saw anything in a racing way to compare with the beauties of the Spa’s racing plant.

“This is really a picture track and was at its best today. The weather was perfection. A delightfully cool breeze blew into the grand stand and the sun seemed to distribute its rays so as to cause the least discomfort. In a word everything was lovely – sublime. The track was lightning fast and the grass of the infield was short and green as the emerald flag.

“About fifteen thousand were at the track for the first day’s sport. It was a well dressed, high class gathering. Women, gayly attired and for the most part pretty, occupied the grand stand, while the male portion spread themselves over the lawn between the paddock and club-house.”

Another reason Saratoga has history like no other is the deep legacy of the great horses who have run around its oval. In reading the article on opening day 1907, you’ll find that Fair Play won his first major stake as a 2-year-old on the meet’s first day. Fair Play’s career as a race horse would be overshadowed by the great Colin but his name as a sire will be forever remembered because of his famous son, Man O’ War.

Image: The Saratoga crowd watches the horses turning into the stretch, circa 1907 (Library of Congress)

Here is how the newspaper described Fair Play’s victory:

“The two stakes events of Saratoga’s opening day, the Flash, for two-year-olds, and the $10,000 Saratoga Handicap, proved fortune-makers for the bookmakers, in both these events the favorites were soundly beaten, and they carried about $200,000 of the public money…

“The Sullivan-Farrell-Johnson clique came within a length of making a good old-fashioned killing on Frank Farrell’s Golden Garter colt Jim Gaffney, in the $6,000 Flash Stakes for youngsters. The tip wasn’t general, but a few of the wise boys including George Wheelock [see notes below] had it and went to it good across the board.

“You could tell the money was down the way Jack Martin got away from the post. He was two lengths in front in the first sixteenth and held the advantage right up to the last sixteenth pole. Here Fair Play, who had been second all the way, moved up, Martin tried hard to keep Jim Gaffney in front but could not and in the drive to the wire Fair Play drew away to win by a short length. The rest finished in a bunch. Sir Cleges, the added starter, being the foremost and getting the show end by a nose. The Whitney pairs, well backed at 6 to 5, got nothing.”

Image: The Saratoga backyard, circa 1907 (Library of Congress)

Read the full article about Saratoga opening day 1907 at the Library of Congress.

NOTES AND SOURCES

“$200,000 Lost by Public in Saratoga Stakes Races”, New York Evening World, August 7, 1907

The photographs used here are from the Library of Congress prints and photographs online catalog. They have about a dozen historic images of the Saratoga track available online. Most of the images are in the public domain. Here is a link to the prints and photographs search page if you would like to take a look. Use the search term: “Saratoga race”

If you would like to read a solid history of Saratoga racing, check out: Edward Hotaling’s, They’re Off!: Horse Racing at Saratoga. Another good one: Bill Heller’s Saratoga Tales. Both books can be had through Amazon or check out the local book stores in Saratoga.

Read a brief history of New York tracks by Ron Hale

George Wheelock, mentioned as one of the “wise guys” in the story, was president of the Metropolitan Turf Association, bookmaking group that operated at the New York race tracks. A May 20, 1905 New York Times article explained their arrangement at Belmont Park: “Each member of the Metroplitan Turf Association…paid for the privileges of operating in the ‘big’ ring $57 a day, while the men in the back line paid $37 a day each, and the ‘hurdlers,’ who transact business in a row still further back and without stools, paid $17 a day each”

Thanks for reading! See you at Saratoga…

Delaware Park’s big weekend concluded on Sunday evening with an impressive win in the 71st Delaware Handicap by Hystericalady. Last year’s winner, Unbridled Belle, who set the pace in a local prep a few weeks back, couldn’t get the early jump and had no chance to close into a weak pace set by long shot and game second place runner Lemon Drop Mom.

Proud Spell looked every bit the champion winning the Delaware Oaks on Saturday just two weeks after her disastrous trip in the Mother Goose at Belmont Park. She received the loudest applause of the weekend returning to the winner’s circle with local favorite Gabriel Saez aboard.

Delaware Park has seen a number of great horses get their start in recent years but rarely have they returned to run again. Proud Spell broke her maiden at Delaware Park last July and won a small stake there in August before winning the Matron at Belmont in September. The local fans truly appreciated Larry Jones bringing his filly back for the Delaware Oaks. Hope to see her in the Alabama.

I had a good weekend at the windows focusing on the local races — Mrs. Colin’s Ghost had a great weekend capping it off by hitting the late double with long shot Magical Forest in the Barbaro Stakes and Hystericalady in the Del Cap.

Here are some photographs from Saturday and Sunday:

Proud Spell heading towards the track for the Delaware Oaks

Fillies break from the gate in the Delaware Oaks

Gabriel Saez and Proud Spell into the winner’s circle

Sunday’s crowd…I think Saturday drew a larger crowd but that is purely observational (I don’t think Delaware Park releases attendance figures). Check out the photo below of the crowd for the Delaware Handicap in 1955. I think I prefer the wide open spaces of the current racing scene. (Image courtesy Delaware Historical Society)

Crowd surrounds the paddock area before the Delaware Handicap

Hystericalady enters the track with Garrett Gomez

The post parade for the Delaware Handicap

The winner preps for her picture

In case you missed it, read about the history of the Delaware Handicap in last week’s post. Special thanks to the Delaware Historical Society for permission to use historic images from their collection.

See additional images and commentary on Del Cap day at Superfectablog

Next stop…opening weekend at Saratoga!

Thanks for reading

On Sunday, Delaware Park hosts the 71st running of the Delaware Handicap. The origins of the “Del Cap” as a significant race for fillies and mares can be traced to the 1950s when the popularity of the sport grew and tracks on the east coast vied for the attention of gamblers and fans. In 1956, the New York Times explained Delaware Park’s emergence as a major venue for fillies and mares: “..with the advent of big-time racing in New Jersey, Delaware began to feel the effects of lost patronage. It needed something unique to attract the better equine performers.” They created something unique in 1953 by increasing the purse of their premier race (then called the New Castle Handicap) to $100,000 making it the richest race in the world for fillies and mares.

Images: (Above) Horses being eased after the Delaware Handicap, 1957. (Right) The filly Grecian Queen, winner of the 1953 Delaware Handicap. (Courtesy of the Delaware Historical Society, image 16-270 and 1-297 )

The New Castle Handicap had been run at Delaware Park since it opened in 1937. By 1950, the New Castle’s purse had been on par with other prestigious races for fillies and mares like the Beldame and the Coaching Club Oaks in New York and the Santa Margarita in California. In 1953, by doubling the purse, the New Castle Handicap became one of the richest races in the country (male or female).

The name of the race changed in 1955 when track management started a race series called the Distaff Big Three that comprised the Delaware Oaks, the New Castle Stakes (a new race), and the (renamed) Delaware Handicap. The races were run on successive Saturdays with the Delaware Handicap, the last leg in the series, coming on the final day of the race season. Entries generated added purse money if they ran in multiple races in the series. According to the New York Times, the idea for the Distaff Big Three came from the track’s Director of Advertising and Promotion, Helen Stairwalt.

In 1956, Sports Illustrated reported:

“Where,does the owner with a good filly or mare take her for the best tests and the proper recognition? In recent years Delaware Park has become the best place to go, and it has done more than any track in the country to build up distaff racing. Delaware Park’s General Manager Bryan Field says, ‘There was double motivation behind our filly and mare program. Our track was being hurt by the overlapping racing dates of tracks in neighboring states, and about the only way we could figure to get around—or overcome—this serious intrusion was to offer horsemen something really smashing and big. Secondly, most of Delaware Park’s directors are connected with the breeding end of racing. So, out of all this collective thought and study, came a perfect solution: we would put on a series of three filly and mare races for a total value of a quarter of a million dollars, and the best would be sure to show up.’” (Read the full article here)

Image: Endine(2x), the first-two time winner of the Delaware Handicap, finishes strong in winning her second straight Del Cap in 1959. She beat her entry-mate Tempted(2) the 1959 Handicap Mare of the Year. Endine lost the New Castle Stakes the previous week by 27 lengths.
(Courtesy of the Delaware Historical Society, image 1-537)

By 1963, the American Racing Manual described the series as “the opulent ‘quarter-million-dollar Distaff Big Three.” However, like other race series’ not the Triple Crown for colts, the Big Three came to a quiet end after the 1963 race season. No mention can be found of the “Distaff Big Three” in the New York Times and the American Racing Manual after 1963. (I was unable to find any official or unofficial reason why the series disappeared.)

Winner’s of Delaware Park’s Distaff Big Three races, 1955 to 1963

While the “Big Three” concept failed, the Delaware Handicap continued to maintain its significance on the racing calendar. When Delaware Park closed in 1982 Steven Crist, reporting on the demise of the “idyllic country track”, called the Delaware Handicap a “major race in turf history.” The Delaware Handicap was run at Saratoga in 1983 to 1985 but returned to its home in 1986 when Delaware Park reopened. In 2005, in the great tradition of high stakes racing for fillies and mares at Delaware Park, track management boosted its purse to one million dollars.

Image: Obeah (left) wins her second Delaware Handicap in 1970. Obeah was the dam of Go for Wand. She, like her champion daughter, was owned by Christiana Stable. (Courtesy of the Delaware Historical Society, image 1-23435)

NOTES AND SOURCES

The images for this article came from the Delaware Historical Society. They own a wonderful photograph collection from Delaware Park that covers a period from approximately 1947 to 1974. Mainly comprised of racing shots the collection also contains photos of jockeys, trainers, and staff in addition to great images of the facilities in Stanton. I spent a few hours going through the collection on Monday and hope to return soon. I want to thank Ellen Rendle, the Society’s Curator of Photographs and Maps, for allowing me to use a few of the many outstanding images in the collection.

“A New Queen: Berlo“, Sports Illustrated, July 4, 1960
“Fillies First“, Sports Illustrated, July 9, 1956
“$100,000 Race Set for Fillies, Mares”, New York Times, January 27, 1953
“Delaware’s Distaff Big Three is a Woman’s Idea”, New York Times, May 23, 1956
“Horse Racing: An Industry Confronting Transition”, New York Times, December 21, 1982
American Racing Manual, Daily Racing Form, 1957, 1964, 1965
Delaware Park Fingertip Facts and Figures, 1958 [Press Guide]

Brief History of Delaware Park from their website

Here is an interesting article on some recent confusion regarding the New York race series for fillies

Thanks for reading!