 Thoroughbred racing at Sheepshead Bay track c.1905 jam-packed with fans, even on the roof. | |
| Location | Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, United States |
|---|---|
| Owned by | Coney Island Jockey Club |
| Date opened | June 19, 1880 [1] |
| Course type | Flat & Steeplechase |
The Sheepshead Bay Race Track was an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility built on the site of the Coney Island Jockey Club at Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, New York.
The racetrack was built by a group of prominent businessmen from the New York City area who formed the Coney Island Jockey Club in 1879. Led by Leonard Jerome, James R. Keene, and the track's president, William Kissam Vanderbilt, the Club held seasonal race cards at nearby Prospect Park fairgrounds until construction of the new race course was completed. On June 19, 1880 the track hosted its first day of Thoroughbred racing. [2]
Old maps and railroad track diagrams for the Manhattan Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road showing the spur that served both the club and the racetrack indicates the entrance to the club was located on the east side of Ocean Avenue between Avenues X and Y. [3] [4] The Sheepshead Bay Race Track station contained six tracks and three island platforms. [5]
In its first year of operations, the new Sheepshead Bay track hosted a 1½ mile match race between two of the top horses racing at the time in the United States. The Dwyer Brothers' Luke Blackburn was ridden by Jim McLaughlin, and Pierre Lorillard's Uncas was ridden by Tom Costello. Luke Blackburn won by twenty lengths. [6]
Sheepshead Bay had both a dirt and a turf course.
Principal backers were:
The new Sheepshead Bay Race Track's premier event was the Suburban Handicap, first run on June 10, 1884 and conceived by James G. K. Lawrence, who became the track's president. [7] Four years later Lawrence would also create the Futurity Stakes, first run on Labor Day in 1888. At the time, the Futurity was the richest race ever run in the United States. [8] [9] Today, both the Suburban and the Futurity are ongoing Graded stakes races held at the Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont on Long Island. The Lawrence Realization Stakes was named for James G. K. Lawrence.
On June 10, 1886 the Coney Island Jockey Club opened the first turf racecourse in the United States. The Club replaced the Sheepshead Bay steeplechase course with a one-mile turf course, built inside the existing main dirt track. The Green Grass Stakes was the first race on turf and was run as part of the June 10 opening day program. A race for three-year-old horses, it was contested at a distance of a mile and an eighth and was won by Emory & Cotton's Dry Monopole in a time of 157.00. [10]
In 1908, the administration of Governor Charles Evans Hughes signed into law the Hart–Agnew bill that effectively banned all racetrack betting in the state of New York. The legislation allowed for fines and up to a year in prison which was strictly enforced. [11] [12]
Compounding matters for the Sheepshead Bay track was intense competition. In a summary of 1909 racing, the Daily Racing Form reported that "Sheepshead Bay, which for years led the country in daily average distribution, yielded first place in 1909 to Belmont Park, which August Belmont and his associates are ambitious to make the "turf headquarters of America"." [13] A 1910 amendment to the Hart–Agnew legislation added further restrictions that made the owners and directors of a racetrack personally liable for any betting done on their premises, with or without their consent. Such an onerous liability was intolerable and meant that by 1911 all racetracks in the state ceased operations. [14] Although a February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division paved the way for racing to resume that year, by then it was too late for horse racing at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track and it was ultimately sold to the Sheepshead Bay Speedway Corporation who used it for automobile racing. [15] [16]
In December 1919, what the Daily Racing Form called one of the most famous racetracks in the history of the American turf, was purchased for real estate development. The facility was torn down and the land subdivided into building lots. [17]
Stakes race titles [18]
Ŧ One of the three Sheepshead Bay Autumn Serials.
In 1959, the Sheepshead Bay Handicap was named in honor of the old racetrack, and first run at the now-defunct Jamaica Race Course in Jamaica, New York. It, too, is currently held at Belmont Park.
The new owner converted the horse track to a board automobile race track. Several auto races were held from October 1915, through September 1919, including the Astor Cup Race and the Harkness Trophy Race. The Sheepshead Bay Speedway Corporation ran into financial difficulties following the death of its majority shareholder Harry Harkness in January 1919. The property was sold in 1923 for residential real estate development. [19] No trace of the racetrack can be found today.
Other defunct New York race tracks:
Belmont Park is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Elmont, New York, United States, just east of the New York City limits. It was opened on May 4, 1905, and is one of the major tracks in the northeastern United States.
The Suburban Stakes is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is now run at the 1+1⁄4 mile distance on dirt for a $350,000 purse.
The Brooklyn Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, on Long Island. It currently is a Grade II event open to four-year-olds and up willing to race one and one-half miles on dirt. It was a Grade 1 race prior to 1993.
The Futurity Stakes, commonly referred to as the Belmont Futurity, is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid-September or October at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, United States. Open to two-year-old horses, it is raced on turf over a distance of six furlongs.
The Lawrence Realization Stakes was an American horse race first run on the turf in 1889. The race, for three-year-old Thoroughbred colts, geldings and fillies, was last run in 2005.
Salvator (1886–1909) was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse considered by many to be one of the best racers during the latter half of the 19th century.
Gravesend Race Track at Gravesend in Brooklyn, New York was a Thoroughbred horse racing facility that opened in 1886 and closed in 1910. The track was built by the Brooklyn Jockey Club with the backing of Philip and Michael Dwyer, two wealthy racing stable owners known as the Dwyer Brothers. Philip, the controlling shareholder of the Brooklyn Jockey Club, served as its president.
Arthur Ewell Redfern was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey who in 1903 was the highest paid rider in the United States.
The Advance Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually from 1899 through 1910 at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Brooklyn, New York. An important race open to horses age three and older, it was raced on dirt. The final running took place on June 27, 1910 and was won by Ballot for the second time.
The Brighton Handicap was an American thoroughbred horse race run annually from 1896 through 1907 at the Brighton Beach Race Course in Brighton Beach, Coney Island, New York and in 1910 at Empire City Race Track. Open to horses age three and older, it was contested on dirt over a distance of a mile and a quarter.
Jacobus was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1883 Preakness Stakes.
The Twin City Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race first run in 1884 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, New York where it continued annually through 1909. Following passage by the New York State Legislature of the Hart–Agnew Law anti-wagering bill that resulted in the closure of all racetracks in the state of New York. The devastation to the horse racing industry was such that the Sheepshead Bay Race Track never reopened. On September 2, 1909 Olambala won what would prove to be the final running of the Twin City Handicap at the Sheepshead Bay track.
The Fall Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York from 1894 thru 1909 for horses of either sex age three and older. For easier identification purposes, the race is sometimes referred to as the Coney Island Fall Handicap. For its first two editions, the Fall Handicap was run on the track's short futurity course at 5¾ furlongs then for the next twelve runnings at 6 furlongs and the final two years at 6½ furlongs. The Fall Handicap was the first of the track's autumn serials, preceding the Ocean Handicap at 6½ furlongs and the Omnium Handicap at 1⅛ miles.
The Great Eastern Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race first run in 1883 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. A race for two-year-old horses of either sex, it was run on dirt over a distance of 6 furlongs.
The Russet Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race on turf held annually from 1895 through 1909 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. Open to horses age three and older and run at a distance of 1½ miles, it was an event that attracted mainly stayers who were best at longer distances.
The Foam Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually from 1880 through 1910 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. An event for two-year-old horses of either sex, the race was run on dirt over a distance of five furlongs with the exception of 1896 when it was for three-year-old fillies at one mile. The inaugural running took place on June 19, 1880 and was won by Spinaway for whom the prestigious Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga Race Course was named. The final running took place on June 21, 1910 and was won by Royal Meteor for the Newcastle Stable racing partnership headed by Life magazine publisher Andrew Miller. The Foam was the only stakes race on the card.
The Surf Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually for thirty-one years from 1880 through 1910 on the dirt course at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. A race for two-year-olds of either sex, it was last run at a distance of five and one-half furlongs but from inception through 1895 it was contested at five furlongs.
The Golden Rod Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually from 1891 through 1908 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. It was a race on turf for two-year-old horses of either sex.
The Pansy Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually for twenty-one years from 1890 through 1910 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track at Sheepshead Bay, New York. Open to two-year-olds under selling conditions it was raced over a distance of six furlongs and, not very common at the time, on turf.
The Spring Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run on dirt for twenty-five years between 1886 and 1910 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. Open to two-year-old horses, from inception through 1889 it was raced over a distance of 6 furlongs and then from 1890 through 1909 it was run on the futurity course at a distance of 5+3⁄4 furlongs. Its final running in 1910 was at a distance of 5 furlongs.
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