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The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime
Thoroughbred racing was one of the first major sports in early America. Horse racing thrived because it was a high-status sport that attracted the interest of both old and new money. It grew because spectators enjoyed the pageantry, the exciting races, and, most of all, the gambling. As the sport became a national industry, the New York metropolitan area, along with the resort towns of Saratoga Springs (New York) and Long Branch (New Jersey), remained at the center of horse racing with the most outstanding race courses, the largest purses, and the finest thoroughbreds. Riess narrates the history of horse racing, detailing how and why New York became the national capital of the sport from the mid-1860s until the early twentieth century. The sport’s survival depended upon the racetrack being the nexus between politicians and organized crime. The powerful alliance between urban machine politics and track owners enabled racing in New York to flourish. Gambling, the heart of racing’s appeal, made the sport morally suspect. Yet democratic politicians protected the sport, helping to establish the State Racing Commission, the first state agency to regulate sport in the United States. At the same time, racetracks became a key connection between the underworld and Tammany Hall, enabling illegal poolrooms and off-course bookies to operate. Organized crime worked in close cooperation with machine politicians and local police officers to protect these illegal operations. In The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime, Riess fills a long-neglected gap in sports history, offering a richly detailed and fascinating chronicle of thoroughbred racing’s heyday.
eBook
Six Weeks in Saratoga
Semifinalist for the 2011 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award
presented by Castleton Lyons and Thoroughbred Times When
Rachel Alexandra thundered to a stylish win against the boys in the
2009 Preakness Stakes, her connections came to the 141st Saratoga
Race Course meeting wanting more than just another victory. They
wanted Horse of the Year. Her jockey, Calvin Borel, pointed
triumphantly to the three-year-old filly beneath him. Rachel
Alexandra was the best horse he had ever ridden and it was his job
to ensure that she and her connections didn't leave Saratoga
Springs without a victory. Hall of Fame trainer and gruff New
Yorker Nick Zito felt he could slay the queen. He'd take his shots
with two rival horses, Da' Tara and Cool Coal Man, because, as he
well knew, you can't win if you don't play. New York Racing
Association president and CEO Charlie Hayward knew that Rachel
Alexandra could run elsewhere and didn't have to come to Saratoga.
The pressure was on him to keep this talented and magnetic filly on
his property, but how far could he go without compromising his
values? Then there were the other horses at the meet: the
Zito-trained Commentator, eight years old and looking for one last
try in the Whitney Handicap; Kentucky Derby-winner Mine That Bird,
aiming to reclaim his glory if he could only stay healthy; and
Summer Bird, the Belmont Stakes winner, who demanded respect.
Everyone was in the twilight of their careers. What would be their
legacies? How would they be remembered? Never before has the famous
racing season at Saratoga been illustrated through these threads,
in real time. As we follow the jockey, the trainer, and the
executive, we come to understand how they, and so many other racing
fans and professionals, were drawn to the magnetism of one special
horse, Rachel Alexandra. All of this happens in six weeks, all at
Saratoga.
eBook
MoneyWatch Report
Meanwhile, stocks closed mixed yesterday led by gains in tech and industrial companies. The Dow did decline twenty-six points. The NASDAQ closed up eighteen, hitting a new record. The S&P 500 gained three points.
Transcript
The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime: Horse Racing, Politics, and Organized Crime in New York, 1865-1913
Schwartz reviews The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime: Horse Racing, Politics, and Organized Crime in New York, 1865-1911 by Steven A. Reiss.
Book Review