Sheepshead Bay Race Track
Encyclopedia
Sheepshead Bay Race Track was an American
Thoroughbred horse racing
facility built on the site of the Coney Island Jockey Club at Sheepshead Bay, New York
. Old maps and railroad track diagrams for the Manhattan Beach Branch
of the LIRR 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.
area who formed the Coney Island Jockey Club in 1879. Led by Leonard Jerome
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 in 1880.
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 jockey Costello. Luke Blackburn won by twenty lengths.
Sheepshead Bay had both a dirt and a turf
course.
Principle backers:
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. 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. Today, both the Suburban and the Futurity are ongoing Graded stakes race
s held at the Belmont Park
racetrack in Elmont
on Long Island
. The Lawrence Realization Stakes
was named for James G. K. Lawrence.
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.
signed into law the Hart-Agnew bill that effectively banned all racetrack betting
in New York State. A 1910 amendment to the legislation added further restrictions that meant by 1911 all racetracks in the state ceased operations. Although the ban was lifted for the 1913 racing season, by then it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay Race Track, which was sold to the Sheepshead Bay Speedway Corporation.
. 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. No trace of the racetrack can be found today.
In 1959, the Sheepshead Bay Handicap
was named in honor of the old racetrack, and first run at the now-defunct Jamaica Racetrack
in Jamaica, New York. It, too, is currently held at Belmont Park.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Thoroughbred horse racing
Thoroughbred horse race
Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...
facility built on the site of the Coney Island Jockey Club at Sheepshead Bay, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Old maps and railroad track diagrams for the Manhattan Beach Branch
Manhattan Beach Branch
The Manhattan Beach Branch or Manhattan Beach Division was a line of the Long Island Rail Road, running from Fresh Pond, Queens south to Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It opened in 1877 and 1878 as the main line of the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway...
of the LIRR 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
Ocean Avenue (Brooklyn)
Ocean Avenue is a major street in Brooklyn, New York that runs generally north-south and occupies the position of East 20th Street in the Brooklyn street grid, with East 19th Street to its west and East 21st Street to its east for most of its path. It runs east of and parallel to Ocean Parkway and...
between Avenues X and Y.
History
The racetrack was built by a group of prominent businessmen from the New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
area who formed the Coney Island Jockey Club in 1879. Led by Leonard Jerome
Leonard Jerome
Leonard Walter Jerome was a Brooklyn, New York, financier and grandfather of Winston Churchill.- Early life :...
and the track's President, William Kissam Vanderbilt
William Kissam Vanderbilt
William Kissam Vanderbilt was a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family. He managed railroads and was a horse breeder.-Biography:...
, the Club held seasonal race cards at nearby Prospect Park
Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
Prospect Park is a 585-acre public park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn located between Park Slope, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Kensington, Windsor Terrace and Flatbush Avenue, Grand Army Plaza and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden...
fairgrounds until construction of the new race course was completed in 1880.
In its first year of operations, the new Sheepshead Bay track hosted a 1½ mile match race
Match race
A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.The term may be best known as a race between two sailing boats racing around a course...
between two of the top horses racing at the time in the United States. The Dwyer Brothers'
Dwyer Brothers Stable
Dwyer Brothers Stable was an American thoroughbred horse racing operation owned by Brooklyn, New York businessmen, Phil and Mike Dwyer.The Dwyer brothers hired trainer Evert Snedecker and purchased their first Thoroughbred, Rhadamanthus, in 1874. In October of that same year they acquired Vigil...
Luke Blackburn
Luke Blackburn (horse)
Luke Blackburn was a Thoroughbred race horse born and bred in Tennessee by Capt. James Franklin.-Background:Sired by Bonnie Scotland, his dam was Nevada out of perhaps the most influential stallion America ever produced, the great Lexington. A bay foal, he was sold at two to Capt. Jim Williams...
was ridden by Jim McLaughlin
Jim McLaughlin
James "Jim" McLaughlin was an American thoroughbred race horse jockey.Orphaned and homeless in his early teens, McLaughlin was taken in by horse trainer William Daly who taught him how to ride. While individual statistics from all of McLaughlin's career races aren't documented, McLaughlin began...
, and Pierre Lorillard's
Pierre Lorillard IV
Pierre Lorillard IV was an American tobacco manufacturer and thoroughbred race horse owner.-Biography:...
Uncas was ridden by jockey Costello. Luke Blackburn won by twenty lengths.
Sheepshead Bay had both a dirt and a turf
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
course.
Principle backers:
- August Belmont, Jr.August Belmont, Jr.August Belmont, Jr. was an American financier, the builder of New York's Belmont Park racetrack, and a major owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses.-Early life:...
- Leonard JeromeLeonard JeromeLeonard Walter Jerome was a Brooklyn, New York, financier and grandfather of Winston Churchill.- Early life :...
- James G. K. Lawrence
- Pierre Lorillard IVPierre Lorillard IVPierre Lorillard IV was an American tobacco manufacturer and thoroughbred race horse owner.-Biography:...
- A. Wright Sanford
- William R. TraversWilliam R. TraversWilliam Riggin Travers was an American lawyer who made a fortune on Wall Street. A well-known cosmopolite and high liver, Travers was a member of 27 private clubs, according to Cleveland Amory in his book Who Killed Society?-Biography:He was born in 1819.Along with John Hunter, in 1863 he founded...
- William Kissam VanderbiltWilliam Kissam VanderbiltWilliam Kissam Vanderbilt was a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family. He managed railroads and was a horse breeder.-Biography:...
The new Sheepshead Bay Race Track's premier event was the Suburban Handicap
Suburban Handicap
The Suburban Handicap 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 run at the classic one-and-one-quarter mile distance on dirt for a $400,000 purse....
, first run on June 10, 1884 and conceived by James G. K. Lawrence, who became the track's president. Four years later Lawrence would also create the Futurity Stakes, first run on Labor Day
Labor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...
in 1888. At the time, the Futurity was the richest race ever run in the United States. Today, both the Suburban and the Futurity are ongoing Graded stakes race
Graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...
s held at the Belmont Park
Belmont Park
Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...
racetrack in Elmont
Elmont, New York
Elmont is an unincorporated census-designated place located in the northwest corner of the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, along its border with the borough of Queens in New York City...
on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. The Lawrence Realization Stakes
Lawrence Realization Stakes
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.-History:...
was named for James G. K. Lawrence.
First turf course in the United States
On June 10, 1886 the Coney Island Jockey Club opened the first turfGrass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
racecourse in the United States. The Club replaced the Sheepshead Bay steeplechase
Steeplechase
Steeplechase may refer to:* Steeplechase, an event in horse racing* SteepleChase, a Danish jazz label* Steeplechase , a 1975 arcade game released by Atari...
course with a one mile turf
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
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.
Demise of horse racing
In 1908, the administration of Governor Charles Evans HughesCharles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New York , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , United States Secretary of State , a judge on the Court of International Justice , and...
signed into law the Hart-Agnew bill that effectively banned all racetrack betting
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
in New York State. A 1910 amendment to the legislation added further restrictions that meant by 1911 all racetracks in the state ceased operations. Although the ban was lifted for the 1913 racing season, by then it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay Race Track, which was sold to the Sheepshead Bay Speedway Corporation.
Sheepshead Bay Speedway Corporation
The new owner converted the horse track to a board automobile race trackBoard track racing
Board track, or motordrome, racing was a type of motorsport popular in the United States between the second and third decades of the 20th century. Competition was conducted on oval race courses with surfaces composed of wooden planks...
. Several auto races were held from October 1915, through September 1919, including the Astor Cup Race and the Harkness Trophy Race
Harkness Trophy Race
The Harkness Trophy Race was an American auto racing event, first run in 1915 at the Sheepshead Bay Speedway at Sheepshead Bay, New York. The winner's trophy was named for Harry Harkness, one of the principal investors who purchased the Sheepshead Bay Race Track horse racing facility, and converted...
. The Sheepshead Bay Speedway Corporation ran into financial difficulties following the death of its majority shareholder Harry Harkness
Harry Harkness
Harry Stephen Harkness was an early American aviator and racing driver. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, of a wealthy family and son of Standard Oil investor Lamon V. Harkness, Harkness financed the building of many early airplanes...
in January 1919. The property was sold in 1923 for residential real estate development. No trace of the racetrack can be found today.
In 1959, the Sheepshead Bay Handicap
Sheepshead Bay Handicap
Sheepshead Bay Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the end of May at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. A Grade II event contested on turf at a distance of 1 3/8 miles , it is open to fillies and mares, three-years-old and up...
was named in honor of the old racetrack, and first run at the now-defunct Jamaica Racetrack
Jamaica Racetrack
Jamaica Race Course was an American thoroughbred horse racing facility operated by the Metropolitan Jockey Club in Jamaica, New York. The track opened on April 27, 1903, a day which featured the inaugural running of the Excelsior Handicap. Eugene D. Wood, one of the founders and largest...
in Jamaica, New York. It, too, is currently held at Belmont Park.
See also defunct New York race tracks
- Brighton Beach Race CourseBrighton Beach Race CourseThe Brighton Beach Race Course was an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility opened at Brighton Beach, Coney Island, New York on June 28, 1879 by the Brighton Beach Racing Association. Headed by real estate developer William A. Engeman, who owned the Brighton Beach Hotel, the one-mile race...
- Gravesend Race TrackGravesend Race TrackGravesend Race Track at Gravesend on Coney Island, New York was a Thoroughbred horse racing facility built by the Brooklyn Jockey Club as a result of the backing of the wealthy racing stable owners, the Dwyer Brothers. Philip J...
- Jamaica RacetrackJamaica RacetrackJamaica Race Course was an American thoroughbred horse racing facility operated by the Metropolitan Jockey Club in Jamaica, New York. The track opened on April 27, 1903, a day which featured the inaugural running of the Excelsior Handicap. Eugene D. Wood, one of the founders and largest...
- Jerome Park RacetrackJerome Park RacetrackJerome Park Racetrack was an American thoroughbred horse racing facility.-History:It opened in 1866 in the northwest part of Fordham, Westchester County , New York....
- Morris Park RacecourseMorris Park RacecourseMorris Park Racecourse was an American thoroughbred horse racing facility from 1889 until 1904. It was located in a part of Westchester County, New York that was annexed into the Bronx in 1895 and later became known as Morris Park...