Colins Ghost

I have been wanting to do a post about Havre de Grace Racetrack for quite awhile. I have done a great deal of research on the track and find it fascinating. Much of my interest comes from its former location in Maryland which is close to where I currently live. I am also perplexed (and saddened) how a prestigious track could close in 1950 just as racing was nearing its peak of popularity. The closing of Havre de Grace shows that no venue should be taken for granted.  

Image: The clubhouse and grandstand at Havre de Grace, September 29, 1931 (Link to source)

Man O’ War, War Admiral, Sir Barton, Seabiscuit, Exterminator, Sarazen, Equipoise, Discovery, Sun Beau, Crusader, and Citation are some of the legends that raced around the oval at Havre de Grace. From 1912 to 1950, a small town at the confluence of the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, served as a center stage for American thoroughbred racing.

What follows is the story of the track’s opening as told through the pages of the Daily Racing Form.

In April 1912, the Governor of Maryland signed a bill that cleared the way for the establishment of the track in Havre de Grace. A month later on May 9th 1912, details about its construction were published:

“The land on which the new track will be built has been acquired for $20,000 and the plans call for an expenditure of $125,000 for the construction of the track grandstand and other necessary structures.”

“The track will be located directly on the banks of the Susquehanna River in what is considered one of the most beautiful spots in all America. The grounds include 103 acres about thirty-eight miles from Baltimore and forty-eight miles from Philadelphia.”

“Both the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore Ohio Railroads run through the land that has become the property of Mr. Rhinock and his associates. Each company will build a handsome railroad station in close connection with the track. Mr. Rhinock has arranged with each company for a 50 cent round-trip car fare…Fine turnpikes connect the property with Philadelphia and Baltimore permitting automobiling and driving from each city.”

Joseph Rhinock was a former congressman from Covington, KY who was the “moving spirit” in the association that was formed to conduct racing at Havre de Grace. Work began on the track at the end of June with a plan to complete construction by August.

On August 19th, all seemed in order for opening day:

“The course was practically built in a month, the program has been framed, stakes have been closed and now special train arrangements have been completed for the handling of crowds”

Also announced on the 19th was a list of racing officials and administrators. Many came from New York, where anti-gambling legislation had completely shut down racing in 1911. Legendary handicapper Walter Vosburgh was one of the the former New York officials who moved south for the inaugural meet. 

On August 24, 1912 Havre de Grace opened for business. Here is part of the Daily Racing Form’s reporting:

“With an attendance of five thousand people, representing four of the largest cities in the east — New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington — the new race course at Havre de Grace opened its gates this afternoon. The plant, while still incomplete, was in first class condition as to appointments, but the track was cuppy, making fast time impossible. It was a good track for horses that like soft going and the purses nearly all went to animals that are partial to this kind of a track.”

“In the crowd were many faces that have been familiar on the tracks of New York, many of the old-timers going to the races for the first time since the sport was discontinued in New York. The largest patronage came from Philadelphia, although Baltimore and Washington sent goodly contingents. It is evident from the good attendance and the enthusiasm displayed that the new course is bound to prove popular. The going will doubtless improve as the meeting progresses and the soil gets settled….”

“….Well backed horses as a rule raced well and the crowd went away well satisfied with the afternoon’s sport.”

Daily attendance peaked at well over 6,000 during the meet. Even with the death of a jockey and a legal battle to ban on-track bookmakers, the first meet at Havre de Grace was deemed a success.

From 1912 to 1950 (with the excpetions of a shut down during World War II), the Maryland track hosted two meets. The spring meet served as one of the key destinations for colts bound for the Kentucky Derby.  The fall meet attracted some of the best handicap horses in country for races like the Havre de Grace Handicap.

Racing at Havre de Grace attracted high-class horses, well-heeled owners, and the best trainers and jockeys in the country.  According to a local journalist, the track made the small Maryland town “famous”.

Considering the current success of boutique meets at Del Mar, Saratoga, and Keeneland, it’s hard not to think what might have been had the track survived.

When the track closed in 1950, the land was sold to the Maryland National Guard.  The old clubhouse is now used as administrative office for the Guard, seen here in 2008:

 

Here is a shot taken from the former clubhouse turn looking towards the finish line. The white building on the left is the back of the clubhouse seen above:

Graw Days, October 10
On Saturday October 10 the town of Havre de Grace hosts its second annual Graw Days to celebrate the legacy of the track.  For more information, check out the event sponsors website. I am looking forward to attending this year’s event.

SOURCES, NOTES, AND OBSERVATIONS

“Consistent Magazine Wins,” Daily Racing Form, April 17, 1912
“Westerners Interested in New Track,” Daily Racing Form, May 9, 1912
“Opening is Auspicious,” Daily Racing Form, August 25, 1912

Article about the track’s closing from Time Magazine

View additional aerial images of Havre de Grace Racetrack

Many thanks to reader Richard Gephart who kindly sent me the postcard of Havre de Grace used above.

Thanks to those who commented and emailed about the Historic Races, Fantastic Finishes top ten. Nothing like a top ten list to get people talking. I made the premise a little more complicated then it needed to be and probably should have called it “Historic Achievements, Fantastic Finishes.” I received a handful of suggestions.  Most passed the fantastic finish test but not the significant historical achievement test. I appreciate all the feedback.  Hope to do more top ten lists in the future.

Looking forward to heading up the turnpike to Belmont this Saturday.  Jockey Club Gold Cup day is always a great day of racing.

THANKS FOR READING AND GOOD LUCK!

With the opening of Belmont Park on Wednesday, I thought I would do a post about one of my favorite places.

The unique configuration of Belmont, its massive grandstand, beautiful paddock area, and, above all, the ghosts of racing’s past provides a setting like no other.

Image: Belmont Park, 1905 (New York Public Library)

The facility, as it now stands, was opened in 1968. The 1905 grandstand was much smaller.

When the decision was made to tear down the original grandstand and the track closed for renovations in 1963, New Yorker writer Audax Minor was less than enthused. Here is how he reported the end to what is now referred to as the Old Belmont Park:

“As you have probably heard, there will be no racing at Belmont Park this season – and for nobody knows how many seasons to come. The New York Racing Association announced last week that because of the ‘progressive deterioration of the steel structure’ – a Madison Avenue phrase if I ever heard one – the grandstand would have to be closed and the spring and autumn meeting transferred to Aqueduct. Demolition of the stand, it was said, is expected to begin soon. So be it.”

Images: Postcard of Belmont Park Race Course, circa 1920. View from the grandstand, 1913.

“Belmont Park may be reopened, but to those who have known the charm of the old place, it can never be the same. It is as though a national figure had suffered from some great tragedy; he survives, but he is different. If the track is rebuilt, it will surely be modern, functional, and without atmosphere – like any other mutuel track. There was something about Belmont that raised it above the level of other racecourses. It wasn’t merely the historic races that were run there, for richer stakes were to be run elsewhere, and it wasn’t just the excellence of the track itself, which gave every runner a fair chance. But Belmont seemed to show racing at its best, in a spacious setting. Whatever the reason, it also brought out the best in horses, and winning at Belmont was something that a stable could be justifiably proud of.”

Needless to say, the fears of Audax Minor did not come to be. While the facility changed, the power of the place remains. I guess there is something about Belmont Park that transcends bricks and mortar.

Check out Brooklyn Backstretch for more on historic Belmont Park

SOURCES, NOTES, AND OBSERVATIONS

Audax Minor, “The Race Track: Curtains for Belmont,” The New Yorker, April 20, 1963

Audax Minor was the pen name of George F.T. Rydall who wrote a regular racing column for the New Yorker from 1926 to 1978 (that is not a typo, over 50 years!). Read more about Minor here

The first image is from the New York Public Library. The postcard and the second image are from Ebay.

If any readers have memories of the Old Belmont Park, I would love to hear from you?

Speaking of the New Yorker — I am a subscriber but have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the magazine (it can be painfully elitist). The article on Larry Jones in this week’s issue is a reminder on why I subscribe. Rarely does a mainstream publication provide a fair-minded, thorough treatment of racing — the New Yorker has done just that. The author Peter J. Boyer has written an outstanding piece that avoids the silly caricatures of racing pervasive in the non-racing media. If you are a race fan – it is worth checking out.

THANKS FOR READING AND GOOD LUCK!

In a few days, the West Coast will play host to the first of two straight Breeders Cups. Being an East Coaster with an admitted bias, I thought I would try something new for this space in honor of the BC in LA: Do a little California racing history. What better place to start then Santa Anita Park – site for the Breeders Cup in 2008 and 2009.

Image: Full page advertisement from the Los Angeles Herald, December 22, 1907

The first Santa Anita was built on the immense “Rancho Santa Anita” owned by E.J. “Lucky” Baldwin, who was described in 1909 as a “pioneer, soldier of fortune, and owner of horses”. The original Santa Anita opened on December 7, 1907. Baldwin, whose life story stands as a classic rags to riches tale, “owned, controlled, and dictated” over Arcadia, the area that included parts of his ranch and his racetrack. According to his obituary, Santa Anita Park was the last of Baldwin’s dreams to be realized. However, in a lifetime of success the track also brought Baldwin his final heartbreak.

In February 1909, during the track’s second and what would be its final racing season, the Walker-Otis bill passed and outlawed “pool selling” in California, making it impossible for bookmakers to ply their trade. The end of racing in California soon followed, killed by the wave of “moralism” spreading across the country during the period. Lucky Baldwin died at his ranch less than a month after the anti-gambling bill became law.

Grand stand at the first Santa Anita Race Track, circa 1908
(Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

While Baldwin’s track lasted only two seasons, it made its mark on the history of racing and established a foundation for the current California racing scene. Here is how the Los Angeles Herald described a visit to the first Santa Anita Park on December 5, 1907:

“With the weights for the opening feature announced this morning and with the cup race poundage due today things begin to assume definite shape, and the lovers of turf events are reminded that but two days intervene until the bugles music again draws them out to watch the horses speed around the oval. Opening day, while it may lack a completed grandstand and paddock will in almost every other particular be as near perfect as possible, and Santa Anita park is sure to please all but the dyspeptics.

“The track is certain to be productive of fast time, and its mile and an eighth oval will provide a fitting ground for the hoofs of some of the best thoroughbreds ever seen on a Western track. The entries in the Pomona handicap alone show what can be expected this winter, and with the best in the country here to race for the rich purses there should be no lack of good sport.

“A visit to the course yesterday disclosed the fact that an unpainted paddock and a none too gorgeous grandstand would greet the crowds Saturday. But the view from this stand, however unfinished the structure may be, is well worth anybody’s time and money.

Panorama view from the grand stand at old Santa Anita, circa 1908
(Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

“Looking off across the field, past the smooth track itself and over beyond the line of white rails that mark the course, the stables loom like army barracks. Further on come the brown fields and orange groves, and in the distance the Sierra Madre, nestling against the mountains of that name, greets the eye like a picture from the brush of a master. The mountains themselves, rugged and still untouched by the season’s snow, loom up in majestic splendor to form a background for all, the trails to Mt. Wilson and Mt. Lowe leading like silver threads to the observations at the top.

“Work on the grandstand and paddock, was in full swing all day and night, but even with a full force swinging hammers and applying paint brushed there is no chance of a fully completed place. The outside rail around the track will be finished today and the steps leading to the stand from the front are yet to be put in place.

“Those sports[men] who care for racing as a pastime and not as a speculative proposition may be pleased to know that from almost any point outside the ground at Santa Anita an unobstructed view of each and every race can be obtained. It is rather new to these parts to be able to get something for nothing. Unless some patrolling system is established the man too cheap or too poor to dig up admission money can have all the racing he wants gratis.”

Two days later, Santa Anita opened and the L.A. Herald had this review of the new facility:

“And after the day was done nothing but words of praise – aside from the comments on the car service – were heard on all sides. The beauty of the track, the class of horses, betting facilities, ample room to sit and stand as suited the fancy – everything was satisfactory and Santa Anita’s first day closed in a blaze of glory, long to be remembered as a fitting baptismal for the handsomest and most perfect track in America.”

The first Santa Anita was short-lived but wildly successful. Owners shipped their steeds by rail from all over the country. The track even earned a left-handed compliment from the New York Evening World under the headline: “Racing at Los Angeles Showing Improvement.” The paper praised the new track but added that it was the “influx of New York horsemen adding new life to the game on coast.”

In the tradition of west coast ovals, the track was lightning fast. At least three world records were broken in its two seasons. The records for five and half furlongs (1:05), a mile (1:37 1/5), and a mile and an eighth (1:50) were all set in its short history.

Like racing in New York, California racing nearly died at the hands of “do-gooders.” As it did in New York, it made a comeback and played a significant role in racing’s rise to prominence in the middle of the twentieth century.

Racing returned to Baldwin’s Ranch in 1934 when the current Santa Anita Park opened – reviving the legacy of West Coast racing’s founding father.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
Not being familiar with the current track or the area (except what I see on TVG), I am wondering if any reader knows where old Santa Anita was located in relation to the current track? As I was writing this, I felt a bit in the dark having never visited the area. Like all things historical, I assume there is some local knowledge about old Santa Anita that I missed here. Please send me an email or post a comment below.

SOURCES, NOTES, OBSERVATIONS

News accounts courtesy of Library of Congress Historic American Newspapers and New York Times Archive (NY Times requires registration):
“Track View is Pleasing,” Los Angeles Herald, December 5, 1907
“Carman Victories Provide Features of Inaugural Day,” Los Angeles Sunday Herald, December 8, 1907
“New World’s Turf Record on Coast,” New York Times, December 20, 1908
“Racing at Los Angeles Showing Improvement,” New York Evening World, December 21, 1908
“Centre Shot’s World’s Turf Mark,” New York Times, December 23, 1908
“California Racing’s Doom,” New York Times, February 20, 1909
“Lucky Baldwin Loses to Death in Last Race,” San Francisco Call, March 2, 1909

Ron Hale, “E.J. ‘Lucky’ Baldwin and Santa Anita,” http://horseracing.about.com/library/blbaldwin.htm

William H.P. Robertson, The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America, 1964

The Library of Congress has a significant collection of images online from Santa Anita Park in their Prints and Photographs Catalog. Among them are images from the park when was it used as an “assembly center” for the relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War.

Can anyone explain why Santa Anita Park’s website has no history of the track. C’mon now! Did I miss it? Hey Magna! The history of the game is pretty significant — you should check that out when you have a minute.

This is my last post until after Breeders Cup. I will not be playing the races on “female” Friday and will limit my wagering on “male” Saturday. The only way the BC folks will listen to the fans is if the handle suffers. So my contribution to the BC this year will be insignificant. Let’s hope the arrogance of the BC doesn’t ruin what has been one of the highlights of the racing calendar.

Thanks for Reading and Good Luck!