The Huron Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run between 1901 and 1940 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Raced on dirt, it was run at a distance of 1 3/16 miles (9.5 furlongs) with the exception of 1914 when the distance was set at 1 1/4 miles (10 furlongs).[1]
| Discontinued stakes race | |
| Location | Saratoga Race Course Saratoga Springs, New York, United States |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1901 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred – Flat racing |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 1 3/16 miles (9.5 furlongs) |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Track | left-handed |
| Qualification | Three-year-olds |
Historical notes edit
The 1920 edition of the Huron Handicap saw William Coe's outstanding filly Cleopatra equal the track record in winning the race under future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey Linus McAtee. [2] While not a major event, the Huron nonetheless drew top horses and was won by other stellar runners such as Roamer, an American Horse of the Year and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, The Finn, a 1915 Champion and Belmont Stakes winner, Johren who won the Latonia Derby and the Belmont Stakes, Sarazen, a two-time American Horse of the Year, plus both Whiskery and Reigh Count who each won the Kentucky Derby.
On August 25, 1938, the Huron Handicap was won by a female trainer for the first time in its history. Mary Hirsch, daughter of future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Max Hirsch, won the race with the colt Thanksgiving owned by another female, Anne Corning.[3] Just 13 days earlier Mary Hirsch won the most important race of her career when she became the first female trainer to ever win the very prestigious Travers Stakes, also with Thanksgiving.[4]
The final running on August 30, 1940 was won by Jacomar, a colt owned by "Cosmetics Queen" Elizabeth Arden.[5] Previously, Jacomar had set a new Aqueduct track record on June 15 of 1:42 4/5 for 1 1/16 miles on dirt in winning the Shevlin Stakes.[6]
The 1911–1912 statewide shutdown of horse racing edit
On June 11, 1908, the Republican controlled New York Legislature under Governor Charles Evans Hughes passed the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation.[7] The owners of Saratoga Race Course, and other racing facilities in New York State, struggled to stay in business without income from betting.[8] Racetrack operators had no choice but to drastically reduce the purse money being paid out which resulted in the Huron Handicap offering a purse in 1908 that was less than one-quarter of what it had been in earlier years. These small purses made horse racing unprofitable and impossible for even the most successful horse owners to continue in business. As such, for the 1909 and 10 racing seasons management of the Saratoga racing facility dropped some of its minor stakes races and used the purse money to bolster its most important events.[9]
In spite of strong opposition by prominent owners such as August Belmont Jr. and Harry Payne Whitney, reform legislators were not happy when they learned that betting was still going on at racetracks between individuals and they had further restrictive legislation passed by the New York Legislature in 1910.[10] The Agnew–Perkins Law, a series of four bills and recorded as the Executive Liability Act, made it possible for racetrack owners and members of its board of directors to be fined and imprisoned if anyone was found betting, even privately, anywhere on their premises.[11] After a 1911 amendment to the law that would limit the liability of owners and directors was defeated in the Legislature, every racetrack in New York State shut down.[12] As a result, the Great Trial Stakes was not run in 1911 and 1912.
Owners, whose horses of racing age had nowhere to go, began sending them, their trainers and their jockeys to race in England and France. Many horses ended their racing careers there and a number remained to become an important part of the European horse breeding industry. Thoroughbred Times reported that more than 1,500 American horses were sent overseas between 1908 and 1913 and of them at least 24 were either past, present, or future Champions.[13] With a February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, horse racing and the Huron Handicap returned in 1913.[14][15]
Records edit
Speed record:
Most wins by a jockey:
- 2 – Walter Miller (1906, 1907)
- 2 – James Butwell (1914, 1915)
- 2 – Frank Robinson (1917, 1918)
- 2 – Linus McAtee (1920, 1923)
- 2 – Mack Garner (1922, 1929)
- 2 – Sidney Hebert (1931, 1937)
Most wins by a trainer:
- 3 – James G. Rowe Sr. (1917, 1918, 1923)
Most wins by an owner:
- 3 – Harry P. Whitney (1917, 1918, 1927)
Winners edit
| Year |
Winner |
Age |
Jockey |
Trainer |
Owner |
Dist. (Furlongs) |
Time |
Win$ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Jacomar | 3 | Ruperto Donoso | H. Hugh Dufford | Elizabeth Arden | 9.5 F | 1:57.40 | $3,550 |
| 1939 | Maeda | 3 | Basil James | George E. Phillips | Maemere Farm (Dewitt Page) | 9.5 F | 1:56.00 | $3,150 |
| 1938 | Thanksgiving | 3 | Eddie Arcaro | Mary Hirsch | Anne C. Corning | 9.5 F | 1:58.40 | $3,375 |
| 1937 | Sammie | 3 | Sidney Hebert | Peter W. Coyne | Joseph E. Widener | 9.5 F | 1:58.60 | $2,410 |
| 1936 | Jean Bart | 3 | Harry Richards | Preston M. Burch | Walter M. Jeffords Sr. | 9.5 F | 1:58.60 | $2,410 |
| 1935 | Mantagna | 3 | Eddie Litzenberger | George E. Phillips | William H. Furst | 9.5 F | 1:59.20 | $2,410 |
| 1934 | Vicar | 3 | Tommy Malley | James E. Fitzsimmons | Belair Stud Stable | 9.5 F | 2:02.00 | $2,135 |
| 1933 | Caesar's Ghost | 3 | Dominick Bellizzi | Robert Augustus Smith | Brookmeade Stable | 9.5 F | 2:00.00 | $2,135 |
| 1932 | War Hero | 3 | John Gilbert | George H. Conway | Glen Riddle Farm | 9.5 F | 1:57.00 | $2,850 |
| 1931 | Hillsborough | 3 | Sidney Hebert | Harry M. Unna | Arthur Bartelstein | 9.5 F | 2:01.80 | $3,800 |
| 1930 | Spinach | 3 | Charles Kurtsinger | William J. Spiers | William Ziegler Jr. | 9.5 F | 1:57.60 | $3,800 |
| 1929 | The Nut | 3 | Mack Garner | Joe Notter | Warm Stable (S. B. Mason & A. W. Hanger) | 9.5 F | 1:58.00 | $4,700 |
| 1928 | Reigh Count | 3 | Chick Lang | Bert S. Michell | Fannie Hertz | 9.5 F | 2:00.80 | $4,300 |
| 1927 | Whiskery | 3 | Raymond Workman | Fred Hopkins | Harry P. Whitney | 9.5 F | 1:59.40 | $3,800 |
| 1926 | Crusader | 3 | Earl Sande | George H. Conway | Glen Riddle Farm | 9.5 F | 1:59.60 | $4,050 |
| 1925 | Peanuts | 3 | Frank Coltiletti | George P. Odom | Robert L. Gerry Sr. | 9.5 F | 1:58.80 | $3,000 |
| 1924 | Sarazen | 3 | John Maiben | Max Hirsch | Fair Stable | 9.5 F | 2:02.80 | $3,850 |
| 1923 | Rialto | 3 | Linus McAtee | James G. Rowe Sr. | Greentree Stable | 9.5 F | 1:57.60 | $3,850 |
| 1922 | Rockminister | 3 | Mack Garner | Kay Spence | Montfort Jones | 9.5 F | 1:57.40 | $3,900 |
| 1921 | Smoke Screen | 3 | Clarence Kummer | James N. Evans | Gifford A. Cochran | 9.5 F | 1:58.20 | $3,800 |
| 1920 | Cleopatra | 3 | Linus McAtee | William H. Karrick | William R. Coe | 9.5 F | 1:56.00 | $2,325 |
| 1919 | Purchase | 3 | Willie Knapp | Sam Hildreth | Sam Hildreth | 9.5 F | 1:59.20 | $2,325 |
| 1918 | Johren | 3 | Frank Robinson | James G. Rowe Sr. | Harry P. Whitney | 9.5 F | 1:57.40 | $2,075 |
| 1917 | Rickety | 3 | Frank Robinson | James G. Rowe Sr. | Harry P. Whitney | 9.5 F | 2:00.40 | $1.925 |
| 1916 | Spur | 3 | Johnny Loftus | John H. McCormack | James Butler | 9.5 F | 1:58.60 | $1,425 |
| 1915 | The Finn | 3 | James Butwell | Edward W. Heffner | Harry C. Hallenbeck | 9.5 F | 2:03.00 | $1,050 |
| 1914 | Roamer | 3 | James Butwell | A. J. Goldsborough | Andrew Miller | 10 F | 2:06.80 | $2,200 |
| 1913 | Cock O' The Walk | 3 | J. "Buddy" Glass | John P. Mayberry | Frederick Johnson | 9.5 F | 1:59.20 | $1,630 |
| 1912 | No races held due to the Hart–Agnew Law. | |||||||
| 1911 | ||||||||
| 1910 | Countless | 3 | Ted Koerner | John W. May | John G. Greener | 9.5 F | 1:59.20 | $2,375 |
| 1909 | Choirmaster of Chesterbrook | 3 | James Mulligan | J. Simon Healy | Edward B. Cassatt | 9.5 F | 2:06.00 | $1,170 |
| 1908 | Sir John Johnson | 3 | S. Sweet | William Hayward Jr. | Stephen Sanford | 9.5 F | 1:58.60 | $500 |
| 1907 | Kennyetto | 3 | Walter Miller | William Hayward Jr. | John Sanford | 9.5 F | 2:00.00 | $2,300 |
| 1906 | Content | 3 | Walter Miller | Thomas Welsh | Newcastle Stable | 9.5 F | 2:00.00 | $1,705 |
| 1905 | Bedouin | 3 | Willie Shaw | John Huggins | Herman B. Duryea | 9.5 F | 2:00.60 | $1,795 |
| 1904 | Fort Hunter | 3 | Gene Hildebrand | John Dyment Jr. | Nathaniel Dyment | 9.5 F | 2:01.60 | $2,060 |
| 1903 | Shorthose | 3 | William E. Haack | Albert G. Weston | Goughacres Stable | 9.5 F | 2:02.40 | $1,985 |
| 1902 | Sombrero | 3 | Tommy Burns | Green B. Morris | Green B. Morris | 9.5 F | 2:04.00 | $1.755 |
| 1901 | The Rhymer | 3 | Harry Cochran | James J. McLaughlin | John A. Monahan | 9.5 F | 2:03.00 | $1,600 |
References edit
- ^ "Huron Handicap To Spur – 1901–1916 winners". Daily Racing Form. 1916-08-23. Retrieved 2019-08-02 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
- ^ "Huron Handicap is Won by Cleopatra". New York Times. 1920-08-27. p. 13. Retrieved 2019-07-22.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Impressive Victory Is Scored by Thanksgiving in Huron Handicap at the Spa". New York Times. 1938-08-26. p. 12. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
- ^ "Travers Milestones – 1938" (PDF). NYRA – 2016 Media Guide. 2017-01-01. Retrieved 2019-08-03.
- ^ "Jacomar Wins By Length Beats Asp and Snow Ridge in Huron Handicap". New York Times. 1940-08-31. Retrieved 2019-08-03.
- ^ "Jacomar, Chicuelo Win For Mrs. Lewis In Aqueduct Races". New York Times. 1940-06-16. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
- ^ "Penalties in the New York Bills". Daily Racing Form. 1908-01-18. Retrieved 2018-10-26 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
- ^ "Keep Up Betting Ban". New York Times. 1908-09-01. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
- ^ "Coney Island Clubs Sturdy Stand". Daily Racing Form. 1908-08-11. Retrieved 2019-02-03 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
- ^ Liebman, Bennett (May 24, 2009). "The First American Triple Crown Series". The Rail. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
- ^ "Racing Men Attack Anti-Betting Bills – Place Every Man Who Makes Private Wager in Jeopardy". New York Times. 1910-04-07. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
- ^ "Race Track Bill Defeated In Senate; Measure Modifying Directors' Liability for Gambling Fails of Passage". The New York Times. July 14, 1911. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
- ^ "Racing Through the Century". Thoroughbred Times. February 14, 2000. Archived from the original on July 19, 2008. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
- ^ "Oral Betting Held Legal: Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court Renders Important Decision". Daily Racing Form. 1913-02-22. Retrieved 2019-06-29 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
- ^ "Destruction Wrought by Hughes". Daily Racing Form. 1908-12-15. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.