150 Years of Racing in Saratoga: Little-Known Stories & Fact's from America's Most Historic Racing City

Celebrate a century and a half of horse racing in Saratoga Springs with stories of the events, horse and people who have made its summers so special.

Since the inaugural meeting of August 1863, Saratoga Springs is home to one of the oldest sports venues in the country and has been the scene of memorable races, often featuring legends of the sport. Although some of the epic moments are still familiar today, such as Upset’s defeat of Man o’ War in the 1919 Sanford Memorial, many of the triumphs and defeats that were once famous have been forgotten. Few remember the filly Los Angeles, who thrived at Saratoga, winning sixteen stakes races, or the influential, sometimes suspicious, reasons why the track was closed three times for a total of six years. Authors Allan Carter and Mike Kane take a look back at these and other important but neglected stories and present statistics from the pre-NYRA years and a rundown of the greatest fields assembled at America’s oldest track.

“As the subtitle promises, the book consists of unexpected tales regarding Saratoga people, horses, and happenings--things that even certain racing historians had no previous clue about. Kane and Carter are uniquely well-equipped to guide readers down this curious road less traveled.” —Mary Simon, Daily Racing Forum
1126659405
150 Years of Racing in Saratoga: Little-Known Stories & Fact's from America's Most Historic Racing City

Celebrate a century and a half of horse racing in Saratoga Springs with stories of the events, horse and people who have made its summers so special.

Since the inaugural meeting of August 1863, Saratoga Springs is home to one of the oldest sports venues in the country and has been the scene of memorable races, often featuring legends of the sport. Although some of the epic moments are still familiar today, such as Upset’s defeat of Man o’ War in the 1919 Sanford Memorial, many of the triumphs and defeats that were once famous have been forgotten. Few remember the filly Los Angeles, who thrived at Saratoga, winning sixteen stakes races, or the influential, sometimes suspicious, reasons why the track was closed three times for a total of six years. Authors Allan Carter and Mike Kane take a look back at these and other important but neglected stories and present statistics from the pre-NYRA years and a rundown of the greatest fields assembled at America’s oldest track.

“As the subtitle promises, the book consists of unexpected tales regarding Saratoga people, horses, and happenings--things that even certain racing historians had no previous clue about. Kane and Carter are uniquely well-equipped to guide readers down this curious road less traveled.” —Mary Simon, Daily Racing Forum
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150 Years of Racing in Saratoga: Little-Known Stories & Fact's from America's Most Historic Racing City

150 Years of Racing in Saratoga: Little-Known Stories & Fact's from America's Most Historic Racing City

by Allan Carter, Mike Kane
150 Years of Racing in Saratoga: Little-Known Stories & Fact's from America's Most Historic Racing City
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150 Years of Racing in Saratoga: Little-Known Stories & Fact's from America's Most Historic Racing City

150 Years of Racing in Saratoga: Little-Known Stories & Fact's from America's Most Historic Racing City

by Allan Carter, Mike Kane

Overview

Celebrate a century and a half of horse racing in Saratoga Springs with stories of the events, horse and people who have made its summers so special.

Since the inaugural meeting of August 1863, Saratoga Springs is home to one of the oldest sports venues in the country and has been the scene of memorable races, often featuring legends of the sport. Although some of the epic moments are still familiar today, such as Upset’s defeat of Man o’ War in the 1919 Sanford Memorial, many of the triumphs and defeats that were once famous have been forgotten. Few remember the filly Los Angeles, who thrived at Saratoga, winning sixteen stakes races, or the influential, sometimes suspicious, reasons why the track was closed three times for a total of six years. Authors Allan Carter and Mike Kane take a look back at these and other important but neglected stories and present statistics from the pre-NYRA years and a rundown of the greatest fields assembled at America’s oldest track.

“As the subtitle promises, the book consists of unexpected tales regarding Saratoga people, horses, and happenings--things that even certain racing historians had no previous clue about. Kane and Carter are uniquely well-equipped to guide readers down this curious road less traveled.” —Mary Simon, Daily Racing Forum

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781625845559
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date: 05/10/2022
Series: Sports
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 192
File size: 5 MB

About the Author

Allan Carter was a law librarian at the New York State Library for 30 years, retiring in 2003. In 1995 he was given the West Excellence in Government Law Librarianship Award. Immediately upon his retirement he joined the National Museum of Racing as an assistant to the historian, and became the museum's historian in 2004. Mike Kane was a newspaper sportswriter & columnist for 30 years, 25 of them at the Schenectady Gazette. From 2005-2010, he worked as communications officer at the National Museum of Racing. He won the Red Smith Kentucky Derby Writing Contest five consecutive years and is a former president of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Association.

Table of Contents

Preface Mike Kane 7

Acknowledgements 9

First Things First 11

Whichone: The "Other" Horse in the 1930 Travers 19

Filly for the Course 24

A Pair of Dead-Heat Travers 30

Travers Trainer Mary Hirsch Stands Alone 35

Nineteenth-Century Steeplechasing and Hurdles Racing 40

Leading Jockeys and Trainers, 1900-1959 46

A History of the Flash Stakes 53

Saratoga's Top Fifteen Fields 56

Common Errors About Saratoga Racing 73

Hopeful and Spinaway Winner Tanya 76

Surprising Winners: Upset, Jim Dandy and Onion 79

An Ode to the Popular Molly Brant 89

The Notorious Gottfried Walbaum 93

East versus West in the 1879 Travers 98

Things to Know About Saratoga 103

Three Equine Meteors 108

A History of the Saratoga Cup 114

Gates Closed on Union Avenue 119

Record-Setting Checkmate 127

Appendix: Hall of Fame and Other Champion Horses that Broke Their Maidens at Saratoga 131

Notes 135

Index 139

About the Authors 144

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