This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2017) |
Company type | Non-profit organisation |
---|---|
Industry | Horse racing |
Founded | 1798 |
Headquarters | Washington DC |
Key people | John Tayloe III Charles Carnan Ridgely |
Products | Betting, lottery, sports |
The Washington Jockey Club was an American association in Washington, D.C. devoted to horse racing, founded in 1797. The club established its first racecourse four blocks from the Executive Mansion where it extended from 17th and 20th Streets and extending across Pennsylvania Avenue into Lafayette Park, [1] what is now the site of Decatur House at H Street and Jackson Place, crossing Seventeenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue to Twentieth Street, largely on the site of today’s Eisenhower Executive Office Building. [2] The course was relocated in 1802 to the Holmead Farm two miles north of the Executive Mansion, to what is now Meridian Hill. [3]
The inaugural match featured John Tayloe III's Lamplighter and Gen. Charles Carnan Ridgely's Cincinnatus, for 500 guineas, ran in 4-mile heats, and won by the former, a sire of Ridgeley's Imp English bred stallion Grey Medley. The only initial building was a small elevated platform for the judges. The "carriage folk" took to the infield for views of the contests, and the standing spectators crested the outside of the course. [4]
Charles Ridgely raised thoroughbred horses which trained on the racetrack at his estate, Hampton. He promoted the stud services of his racehorse Grey Medley (f. 1776); his racehorse Post Boy (f. 1800) was destined to win the prestigious Washington Jockey Club cup in 1804, 1805, and 1806. John Tayloe III purchased and bred many thoroughbreds, including Diomed (f.1777) Grey Diomed (f. 1786), Dungannon (f. 1794), Selima (f. 1805), and Sir Archy (f. 1805)- considered the first great racehorse bred in America. Tayloe III built The Octagon House in downtown Washington City at the behest of his cousin, George Washington, and also owned a 204-acre horse farm called Petworth (Washington, D.C.), which stands on the land that now comprises the Petworth neighborhood. Wilhelmus Bryan, a historian of early Washington, attributed the popularity of horse racing in the new federal city "to the interest taken in breeding of racing stock by John Tayloe III, reputed to be the wealthiest man in the city. [5] [6]
John Tayloe II (1721-1779), father of John Tayloe III, was a fourth generation tobacco planter and avid horse racer. His property, Mount Airy (1758), exists today, Tayloe II’s earliest recorded importation was Childers (whose grandsire was Flying Childers (1714–41)) in 1751. His son, Colonel John Tayloe III, went on to purchase and breed many thoroughbreds, including Grey Diomed (f. 1786), Dungannon (f. 1794), Selima (f. 1805), and Sir Archy (f. 1805). John Tayloe III built the Octagon in the Federal City, and also owned a 204 acre horse farm called Petworth, bounded on the south by Rock Creek Road and on the west by Georgia Avenue, which stood on the land that now comprises the Petworth neighborhood. The eager citizens who attended the four mile heat interpreted the race as a contest between the states; in this instance, Virginia was victorious and Tayloe carried home a purse of 500 guineas! first and foremost a horse farm.[ clarification needed ] [5]
In 1802 growth in the Federal City forced abandonment of the initial course, moving to the Holmead Farm, what is now Meridian Hill —south of Columbia Road between Fourteenth and Sixteenth Streets—and races were conducted at the Holmstead Farm's one mile oval track. Gen. John Peter Van Ness, Dr. William Thornton, G.W. P. Custis, John Threlkeld of Georgetown and George Calvert of Riversdale, Bladensburg, Maryland. [ clarification needed ]
Nowhere else could there be seen so brilliant an ensemble, so rich in glow and color, so distinguished, so picturesque, so various and so vivid. The two men most largely responsible for this were the same pair that in 1798 had provided Washington with its first big turf event: John Tayloe III and General Ridgely. . . . When he [Tayloe] withdrew from the turf in 1810, Ridgely, hitherto his rival, succeeded him as its dictator along the Potomac, the Patapsco and the Chesapeake. [4] : p. 6
For a time Washington and Baltimore were leading centers for racing, and like today the best horses raced in the spring and fall. Presidents, military heroes, statesmen, and foreign dignitaries typically attended.
Winter Races commenced on the second Tuesday of November. The First Day was a $1,600 Sweepstakes, and the Second Day, Wednesday, was a Purse of $400, 4 Mile Heats. The Third Day, Thursday, $200 Purse, 3 Mile Heats, and the Fourth Day, Friday, "A 50 guinea silver cup-10 horses." Fifth Day, Saturday, "a handsome City an Town Purse-2 Mile Heats."
"All horses, mares, and geldings, to be entered and run agreeably to the rules of the club, and to carry the following weight: An aged horse, 126-a fix-year-old 120-a five year old 112-a four-year-old 100-and a three-year-old 90 pounds. Three pounds being allowed to fillies, mares, and geldings. The following tolls to be paid at the gate to the clerk of the courte, M.C.Bailey, or any person authorized by him to receive the same. Four Wheel Carriages, $1 doll. each, two-wheel carriages, 50c. each, two man and horse, 25c, booths to be lett on application to the subscriber. It is probable that the 2nd & 3rd days purses will be increased-as the surplus of the tolls after defraying the expenses & c. will be added to them. CHAS. MCLAUGHLIN Sec. & Tr. The club will meet at Union Tavern on the evening preceding the first day's race. Pub. Sept 14
Charles Carnan Ridgely was born Charles Ridgely Carnan. He is also known as Charles Ridgely of Hampton. He served as the 15th Governor of the state of Maryland in the United States from 1815 to 1818. He also served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1790 to 1795, and in the Maryland State Senate from 1796 to 1800. Charles was born in Baltimore. He was the son of John Carnan and Achsah Ridgely, sister of Captain Charles Ridgely. The Maryland Gazette described him as an aristocrat.
Fair Grounds Race Course, often known as New Orleans Fair Grounds, is a thoroughbred racetrack and racino in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is operated by Churchill Downs Louisiana Horseracing Company, LLC.
Lexington was a United States Thoroughbred race horse who won six of his seven race starts. Perhaps his greatest fame, however, came as the most successful sire of the second half of the nineteenth century; he was the leading sire in North America 16 times, and broodmare sire of many notable racehorses.
Boston (1833–1850) was an outstanding Thoroughbred racehorse and a leading sire in North America three times from 1851 to 1853. He started in about 45 races, winning 40, including 15 in succession. Boston was later one of the initial inductees into the Hall of Fame.
Diomed (1777–1808) was an English Thoroughbred race horse who won the inaugural running of the Epsom Derby in 1780. Sold and imported to Virginia, he was subsequently a successful sire in the United States after the American Revolutionary War.
Mount Airy, near Warsaw in Richmond County, Virginia, is the first neo-Palladian villa mid-Georgian plantation house built in the United States. It was constructed in 1764 for Colonel John Tayloe II, perhaps the richest Virginia planter of his generation, upon the burning of his family's older house. John Ariss is the attributed designer while William Buckland (architect) was the builder/architect. Tayloe's daughter, Rebecca and her husband Francis Lightfoot Lee, one of the only pair of brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence are buried on the estate, as are many other Tayloes. Before the American Civil War, Mount Airy was a prominent racing horse stud farm, as well as the headquarters of about 10-12 separate but interdependent slave plantations along the Rappahannock River. Mount Airy is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark as well as on the Virginia Landmarks Register and is still privately owned by Tayloe's descendants.
Jean-Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville (1785–1868), known as Bernard de Marigny, was a French-Creole American nobleman, playboy, planter, politician, duelist, writer, horse breeder, land developer, and President of the Louisiana State Senate between 1822 and 1823.
Highflyer was an undefeated Thoroughbred racehorse and a very successful sire of the 18th century.
Sir Archy was an American Thoroughbred racehorse considered one of the best racehorses of his time and later one of the most important sires in American history. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 1955.
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed developed for horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered "hot-blooded" horses that are known for agility, speed, and spirit.
For the Greek statesman of this name, see Timoleon.
Col. John Tayloe II was the premier Virginia planter; a politician, and colonial Colonel in the Virginia Militia. Virginia. He served in public office including the Virginia Governor's Council, also known as the Virginia Council of State.
Col. John Tayloe III, of Richmond County, Virginia, was the premier Virginia planter; a politician, businessman, and tidewater gentry scion. He was prominent in elite social circles. A highly successful planter and early Thoroughbred horse breeder, he was considered the "wealthiest man of his day". A military officer, he also served in the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate of Virginia for nine years.
Lounger was a British Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1797. Bred and initially trained in Yorkshire he won his last three races as a three-year-old including the St Leger at Doncaster Racecourse. He won a further five races as a four-year-old before being sold and transferred to the south of England where he raced with disappointing results in 1799. He does not appear to have had a stud career.
Horse racing in the United States dates back to 1665, which saw the establishment of the Newmarket course in Salisbury, New York, a section of what is now known as the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York. This first racing meet in North America was supervised by New York's colonial governor, Richard Nicolls. The area is now occupied by the present Nassau County, New York, region of Greater Westbury and East Garden City.
Henry Augustine Tayloe of Oakley Plantation, Essex County, Virginia, later Gallion, Canebrake, Alabama, was an American planter, slaveholder, horse breeder and racer, and land speculator in the 19th century.
Leviathan was an American Thoroughbred racehorse considered one of the best horses of the late 1700s and early 1800s. He was also one of the first successful American geldings in racing history with almost every other great horse from that time period either being a stallion or a mare. He also holds the longest winning streak in American racing history winning 23 consecutive races from 1797 to 1801 with at-least 15 of these races being heat races meaning he won at least 38 consecutive heats.
Medley (1776–1792) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who was imported to the United States after the American Revolutionary War, becoming one of the foundation stallions of the American Thoroughbred.
The Eclipse Race Course was the third formal thoroughbred horse racing track in New Orleans, Louisiana, founded in 1837 by Captain Yelverton Oliver, who owned the famous thoroughbred Richard of York; a native Virginian, who organized The New Orleans Jockey Club.
The Louisiana Jockey Club was an American sporting association founded in 1837 with the completion of the Carrollton Race Course, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Today this is the only remaining Thoroughbred Race Course of the old-line tracks, the others which have closed are the Metairie Race Course, the Eclipse Race Course, and the Jackson Race Course; it exists today as the Fair Grounds Race Course, where races are still held-making it the 2nd oldest continuous racing track in operation in the United States, after the Freehold Raceway and before the Saratoga Race Course.