Good Times: Horse Racing

By Jacquie Rogers

When the first two people walked the face of this earth, one of them had to prove he could go faster than the other. Whatever means was available in any time and place, people have raced. Foot races, camel races, elephant races, buffalo races, ostrich races...on and on. Hey, the human race is called the "human race." Must be something to that.

And horse races.

Probably the oldest continuous horse race in the world is held in Mongolia, the Naadam Festival, featuring the Eriin Gurvan Naadam--the three manly sports of archery, wrestling, and horse racing. The horse races are from 12 to 35 kilometers in length and the riders, both boys and girls, are from four to 12 years of age (the minimum age was recently raised to six years old). The horses are trained rigorously for this event, and the winner brings great prestige to its owner.

In Britain, knights arrived home from the Crusades with Arabian horses--warm bloods that where sleek and fast. These were bred with the Hobby horses native to the British Isles. Henry VIII had a bad case of racing fever, then his daughter, Elizabeth I, continued improving the breeding program. This went on until Cromwell, who switched from breeding for speed to breeding for the cavalry. At any rate, Englishmen were dedicated to thoroughbred horse racing from then on.

Professional horse racing as we know it started in the 1700s during the rein of Queen Anne. Later in 1750, the Jockey Club was formed, which created the rules generally used today. In the 1790s, James Weatherby recorded all the horses' pedigrees in the General Stud Book. His descendants have been the keepers of the General Stud Book to this day.

Britain's five race classics are: Derby Stakes, the Oaks, the One Thousand Guineas, the Saint Leger, and the Two Thousand Guineas. The Saint Leger is the oldest, formed in 1776. The Derby Stakes, named after the 12th Earl of Derby and held at Epsom Downs, is the richest and most prestigious of Britain's races.

The Belmont Stakes is the oldest of the USA's Triple Crown. The first race was held in 1867. The Preakness started in 1873 and the Kentucky Derby (at the right) began in 1875. These races followed the English tradition, and the Belmont even specified the saddles must be made by Merry of St. James Street, London. The term "Triple Crown" was first used in the 1930s and was coined after Britain's Triple Crown.

While reading The Owyhee Avalanche (Homedale, Idaho), I saw this article in the "Looking Back" section, republished from the July 9, 1870, issue of The Owyhee Avalanche (then in Silver City, Idaho Territory).

THE FOURTH AT WAGONTOWN

A number of our citizens attended the races at Wagontown last Monday. Everything passed off in the most satisfactory manner. There were four races of a quarter of a mile each, as follows: LW Walker's chestnut horse and Jno Catalows's sorrel mare, for $50 a side, won by the latter. Second, Tim Shay's sorrel horse and Frenchman's roan filly, for $40 a side, won by Shay's horse. Third, Catalow's sorrel mare and Frenchman's sorrel horse, for $50 a side, Catalow's mare winner. Fourth, Jordans's black mare and Tom Walls' gray horse, for $45 a side, Jordan's mare winner.

That's pretty good money for 140 years ago, but a pittance compared to what went on in San Francisco, CA.

Gradually, as wealthy men made a hobby or a sideline of breeding horses, Western races became more carefully orchestrated, the crowds grew and betting flourished. Indeed, gambling and a day at the races became a virtually synonymous. And when Westerners got around to staging formal stakes races the prizes were sometimes much richer than those back East. In 1873 what was billed as "the richest race in the world" was run at Ocean View Park in San Francisco. The winner's purse was $20,000 paid in gold. In the same year New York's famous Belmont was worth only $5,200 and Maryland's Preakness a mere $1,800. ~ From: Gamblers of the Old West, p.200

Currently, Mongolia hosts the longest horse race in the world, 1,000 kilometers. It's actually patterned after Ghengis Khan's mail system, where a horse and rider had to go from water to water, usually about 30 kilometers. Think Pony Express. The US certainly wasn't the first to come up with that system.

There's every iteration of horse racing you can think of: barrel races, sulky races, chariot races, suicide races, wild horse races, endurance races, and many more. Mule racing is becoming popular now, too.

I read that horse racing is the second most popular sport in the United States. That's interesting because in today's society, a lot more people know how to drive cars than know how to ride horses, so you'd think horse racing enthusiasm would diminish. But all over the world, horse racing is as popular as ever.

Sources:
Horse Racing History
History of Horse Racing
Belmont Stakes
The Owyhee Avalanche

I wish Good Times to all of you!
Jacquie

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Professions: Old West Gamblers

By Jacquie Rogers

Westerners bet on anything that moved--how fast it could go and how high it could jump. They had foot races, boxing matches, flea-jumping contests, frog-jumping contests, bear and bull matches, dog fights, cock fights, as well as cow-boy tournament events such as saddle bronc riding.

But most of all, westerners like to play the ponies:

Gradually, as wealthy men made a hobby or a sideline of breeding horses, Western races became more carefully orchestrated, the crowds grew and betting flourished. Indeed, gambling and a day at the races became a virtually synonymous. And when Westerners got around to staging formal stakes races the prizes were sometimes much richer than those back East. In 1873 what was billed as "The Richest Race in the World" was run at Ocean View Park in San Francisco. The winner's purse was $20,000 paid in gold. In the same year New York's famous Belmont was worth only $5,200 and Maryland's Preakness a mere $1,800. [GAMBLERS OF THE OLD WEST, p.200]

While horse racing was wildly popular, a close second was boxing. This sport wasn't exactly the refined version we have today. Boxers wore no gloves and round lasted until one of them was knocked down--and no limit to the number or rounds. As long as both fighters could throw a punch, the match was active. The winner took the purse which could be as much as $10,000.

And of course there were the card and dice games. Professional gamblers in the Old West, the really good ones, were called "thoroughbred gamblers." I'm listing several thoroughbreds and sources where you can get more information, as well as a few famous gamblers, not necessarily thoroughbreds, but definitely well-known.

George Devol: Mississippi riverboat gambler, born in 1829, who worked the river for 40+ years and made a fortune on three-card monte, poker, and keno. He wrote a fabulous book, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, that I used when I researched a story I wrote a few years back. I've never found anything even close to this book as far as explaining how gambling and conning works. Mr. Devol was probably a charming, rough genius from a good family who had no idea what to do with such a rambunctious boy. He won and lost many fortunes over the years.

Elanora Dumont (Madam Mustache): Quoted from American Gambler Online:

In the 1850's Elanora Dumont was a sexy young dealer who attracted love-starved players that gladly lost their gold to this expert player. As she grew in popularity so did her earning. Eventually she owned her own casino, "Dumont Palace," which also prospered, because she enjoyed a reputation for fairness and free food. The mustache appeared suddenly well after she'd made her money. Following a busted romance and a worse marriage which left her broke and alone, she poisoned herself 1879.

Jefferson Randolf "Soapy" Smith: A very colorful character, indeed! Soapy is more in the spirit of con men than traditional gamblers, but his talents certainly can't be overlooked. He was from Southern gentility and was very bright with a keen knack for organization.

Originally running a shell game, he graduated to the soap scheme where he wrapped 5-cent bars of soap with either plain paper, or $20, or $100-dollar bills and sold the bars for $5 a piece. Of course, the only people who actually "won" were on Soapy's payroll.

Always ready to make a buck, Soapy did everything from fixing elections to the more standard job running a poker hall.

While I never did find a biography (book form) of him, you can read more here or here,
and a little about his Scagway adventures here. And here is his death photograph.

NOTE: If you read the comments, you'll see where Jeff Smith, Soapy's grandson, set me straight on a few things. I noticed Jeff has a book coming out this year, so we finally will have access to a biography--great news! To learn more about the real Soapy Smith, information compiled from his how letters and records by his family, go to the Soapy Smith website. There's also a wealth of information about other Old West gamblers at Old West Rogues.

Wyatt Earp: Everything has been written about him, but I'm including him because he was a renowned gambler who owned games/saloons throughout the West. Here's an interesting site about Earp's life after Tombstone, and here's a more complete biography.

Poker Alice (Ivers): Poker Alice was an amazing woman. Outstanding mathematical ability stood her well throughout the years while she made her way quite nicely through a man's world. Here's a really good article about her, and another (although the year of her birth is different).

Martha "Calamity Jane" Canary: Her autobiography is available online, and here's an article that carefully skirts the gambling issue. About the notorious Calamity, I love this quote:

It takes disaster to bring the woman out in a female, even Calamity, who went around like a saint when the smallpox plague struck Deadwood. She nursed back people close to the door of death and didn't ask for so much as a thank you. Even old Doc Babcock had to admit there was a little angel of some sort in this hardboiled woman, yes, even a little bit of heaven itself when she tended children. "oh, she'd swear to beat hell at them," said the Doc, "but it was a tender kind of cussin'."

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok (1837-1876): Family History has stats and a brief bio, and here's an article on his life

William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (1856-1921): This is a good article on his life, although his gambling is not mentioned much, as is the case with this one. Here's an article that actually has his gambling mentioned!

And there you have a handful of gamblers--not all of them the thoroughbred variety, but well known, nevertheless. The following is a list of interesting books and sites on the subject.

Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi by George H. Devol, originally published in 1887 by Devol & Haines, Cincinnati. Republished by Applewood Books. ISBN 1-55709-110-2. This book is a series of vignettes by Mr. Devol recounting various adventures he had as a Mississippi riverboat gambler.

Gamblers of the Old West, from the Editors of Time-Life Books. ISBN 0-7835-4903-2. This is a terrific book with many fine illustrations the aid in the understanding of gambling in the 19th century. Please bear in mind that the terminology is often modern.

Games You Can't Lose: A Guide for Sucker$ by Harry Anderson and Turk Pipkin, Burford Books, 1989, 2001. ISBN 1-58080-086-6. While not a historical reference, it certainly is an interesting read for anyone who's writing a con artist character.

Card Control: Practical Methods and Forty Original Card Experiments by Arthur H. Buckley, Dover Publications, Inc., 1993 (first published in 1946). ISBN 0-486-27757-7. Need to deal from the bottom or stack the deck? This book shows you how. Not that I got anything but gales of laughter from my husband and friends when I tried cheating . . . (Remember the manual dexterity requirement?)

Gambling in the United States
Famous Gamblers
Western slang and phrases

Enjoy the ride!



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