The Spindrift Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually between 1885 and 1909 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York City. A race for three-year-olds, it was contested on dirt over a distance of 1¼ miles (10 furlongs) from 1885 to 1892 and at 1⅛ miles (9 furlongs) from 1893 through 1909.[1]

Spindrift Stakes
Discontinued stakes race
LocationSheepshead Bay Race Track
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, United States
Inaugurated1885
Race typeThoroughbredFlat racing
Race information
Distance1+18 miles (9 furlongs)
SurfaceDirt
TrackLeft-handed
QualificationThree-year-olds
WeightAssigned

The inaugural running took place on July 11, 1885, and was won by St. Augustine, a John Alcock trained colt owned by George Lorillard.[2] The final running of the Spindrift took place on July 7, 1909, and was won by the Oneck Stable's Fashion Plate, trained by William Karrick.[3]

The 1911–1912 statewide shutdown of horse racing

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On June 11, 1908, the Republican controlled New York Legislature under Governor Charles Evans Hughes passed the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation.[4] The owners of Sheepshead Bay Race Track, and other racing facilities in New York State, struggled to stay in business without income from betting.[5] Racetrack operators had no choice but to drastically reduce the purse money being paid out which resulted in the Spindrift Stakes offering a purse in 1909 that was nearly one-tenth 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 1910 racing season management of the Sheepshead Bay facility dropped some of its minor stakes races and used the purse money to bolster its most important events.[6]

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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] As a result, after 1909 the Spindrift Stakes was never run again.

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.[10] When a February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division Court saw horse racing return in 1913.[11] However, it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay horse racing facility and it never reopened.[12][13]

Records

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Speed record:

  • 1:51.80 – Fashion Plate (1909) (at 1+18 miles)
  • 2:09.40 – Sir John (1890) (at 1+14 miles)

Most wins by a jockey:

Most wins by a trainer:

Most wins by an owner:

Winners

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Year
Winner
Age
Jockey
Trainer
Owner
Dist.
(Miles)
Time
Win$
1909 Fashion Plate 3 Henry Smith William H. Karrick Oneck Stable 118 1:51.80 $495
1908 Firestone 3 Walter Miller Dr. H. E. Rowell Thomas H. Williams 118 1:53.20 $3,890
1907 Cabochon 3 Mr. Lowe James G. Rowe Sr. James R. Keene 118 1:53.40 $4,410
1906 Kuroki 3 Willie Shaw James G. Rowe Sr. James R. Keene 118 1:53.80 $4,215
1905 Oiseau 3 Frank O'Neill Matthew M. Allen Diamond Jim Brady 118 1:53.60 $3,700
1904 Highball 3 George Odom John W. May Walter M. Scheftel 118 1:54.00 $4,215
1903 Injunction 3 Willie Gannon James G. Rowe Sr. Foxhall P. Keene 118 1:52.80 $3,270
1902 Ranald 3 Otto Wonderly Charles S. Littlefield Jr. James B. A. Haggin 118 1:54.20 $3,000
1901 Gold Heels 3 Winfield O'Connor Matthew M. Allen Diamond Jim Brady & Fred C. McLewee 118 1:52.40 $1,870
1900 Prince of Melbourne 3 Henry Spencer J. A. Kyle Col. Frank D. Beard 118 1:53.60 $2,150
1899 Ethelbert 3 Henry Spencer A. Jack Joyner Perry Belmont 118 1:55.40 $1,380
1898 Sailor King 3 Danny Maher Walter B. Jennings Walter B. Jennings 118 1:55.40 $1,490
1897 On Deck 3 Fred Taral Julius Bauer Bromley & Co. (Joseph E. Bromley & Arthur Featherstone) 118 1:56.40 $1,450
1896 Formal 3 Fred Littlefield R. Wyndham Walden Alfred & David Morris 118 1:56.00 $1,400
1895 Bright Phoebus 3 Lester Reiff Charles S. Littlefield Jr. Del Monte Stable 118 1:57.20 $1,450
1894 Henry of Navarre 3 Samuel Doggett Byron McClelland Byron McClelland 118 1:56.20 $1,950
1893 Glenmoyne 3 Willie Simms John W. Rogers Samuel S. Brown & John W. Rogers 118 1:54.80 $1,740
1892 Pickpocket 3 Fred Taral John W. Rogers Samuel S. Brown & John W. Rogers 114 2:11.40 $1,715
1891 Potomac 3 Anthony Hamilton Hardy Campbell Jr. Michael F. Dwyer 114 2:11.00 $1,975
1890 Sir John 3 Marty Bergen Frank McCabe Dwyer Brothers Stable 114 2:09.40 $1,860
1889 My Fellow 3 William Donohue Charles S. Littlefield Sr. Charles S. Littlefield Sr. 114 2:10.20 $2,200
1888 Raceland 3 P. Godfrey James G. Rowe Sr. August Belmont 114 2:12.00 $3,250
1887 Hanover 3 Jim McLaughlin Frank McCabe Dwyer Brothers Stable 114 2:11.25 $3,300
1886 The Bard 3 John Fisher John Huggins Mr. Kelso 114 2:09.25 $3,925
1885 St. Augustine 3 Harry Blaylock John Alcock George L. Lorillard 114 2:11.75 $4,625

References

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  1. ^ "New York Entries and Past Performances". Daily Racing Form. 1909-07-07. Retrieved 2019-07-28 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  2. ^ "The Good-Bye and Spindrift". Breeder and Sportsman. 1885-07-11. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
  3. ^ "Maskette Easily Wins The Mermaid". New York Times. 1909-07-08. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
  4. ^ "Penalties in the New York Bills". Daily Racing Form. 1908-01-18. Retrieved 2018-10-26 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  5. ^ "Keep Up Betting Ban". New York Times. 1908-09-01. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
  6. ^ "Coney Island Clubs Sturdy Stand". Daily Racing Form. 1908-08-11. Retrieved 2019-02-03 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  7. ^ Liebman, Bennett (May 24, 2009). "The First American Triple Crown Series". The Rail. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  8. ^ "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.
  9. ^ "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.
  10. ^ "Thoroughbred Times". www.ThoroughbredTimes.com. February 14, 2000. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  11. ^ "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.
  12. ^ "Destruction Wrought by Hughes". Daily Racing Form. 1908-12-15. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  13. ^ "Famous Old Track is Sold". Daily Racing Form. 1914-11-17. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.