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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News and Media: Bat Masterson

By Jacquie Rogers

Bat Masterson said he didn't know anybody Wyatt couldn't whip without his guns. A lot of times Wyatt didn't carry guns...because if he carried guns he had to kill somebody--and he would kill somebody--but he didn't want to. He was a very religious man.

When we think of Bat Masterson, most of us envision a lawman, a gunfighter--a man's man in the Old West along side Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickock and Doc Holiday. The television series definitely promoted that image. But did you know that he was also a New York sports writer?

Yep. Not only did he end up being a sports writer, but he wrote for years--as a newspaper reporter and editor as well as for other periodicals--and he'd been doing so since he was a young man. In fact, his ability to write and promote himself is how he pretty much created his own legend.

It all started in Quebec, Canada, on November 26, 1853, when a baby boy named Bartholomew Masterson was born Irish parents. In his teens, the family moved to Wichita, Kansas, and he along with his two of his brothers, Ed and James, went off to seek their fortunes as so many other boys did--buffalo hunting. At age 20, he fought in the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, and then worked for a while as a U.S. Army scout. From 1876 to 1882, he did his gunfight/lawman gig where he rose to notoriety, but our story starts in 1883.

It seems Bat rather enjoyed the sport of boxing. A lot. He was obsessed with fights and was more than fair at pre-fight analysis as well as calling the winners. So good, in fact, that he wrote a sports column for a Denver newspaper called George's Weekly. Newspapermen (and brothers) A.H. and W.E. Lewis had befriended Bat in Kansas City ten years before, and they would play a prominent role in Bat's fame and later success in the East. With their help, he'd honed his writing skills and while he couldn't be called a literary giant, he was pretty good at the craft.

During the years between his gunfighting days and his newspaper career, he mixed a little law enforcement here and there with gambling and writing. He was a professional gambler (called a thoroughbred) and organized boxing matches, acted as referee at times, as bookie, and guard. He never did actually box himself, though. His predictions were often right on, and he was excellent at assessing the fighters, their physical abilities, talent, and motivation.

Bat's life wasn't all roses. He ended up in more than a few altercations when his past reputation would catch up with him, and after a while, also succumbed to the lure of alcohol, although he threw off the demon when he moved to Manhattan. The buzz of New York City suited him just fine and he loved living there. Who would have thought a crusty old gunfighter would take so quickly to city life?

He hooked up with the Lewis brothers again, and he wrote for the New York Morning Telegraph, where he eventually because vice president and secretary. He was close friends with Teddy Roosevelt and other notables, and lived well for the rest of his days.

In 1921, he was writing his column when he had a heart attack and died hunched over his typewriter. The last thing he wrote was, "There are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in the winter things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I'll swear I can't see it that way."

His last words are evidence that our world really hasn't changed much.

Jacquie

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The Seasons: Naadam Festival

By Zoe Archer

We've been talking a whole heap about winter traditions and winter events here at UH, but couldn't we all use a little jolt of summer fun as we dip closer and closer to the longest night of the year?

Villages and towns all over the world often host festivals, outdoor amusements and sporting events during the summer months, capitalizing on warm weather, high spirits and short nights. Lest you think that the modern Olympics has cornered the market on multi-sport competitions, might I turn your gaze eastward, toward Mongolia, and the traditional naadam festival. The festival dates all the way back to the 3rd century BCE.

Nowadays, the naadam festival is traditionally held every July, the largest being held in the capital of Ulan Bator from July 11-13. It celebrates Mongolia's "three manly sports:" horseracing, wrestling and archery. In modern times, women also participate in the archery and children vie in the horseracing event, but the wrestling is strictly for men. (Take a look at the wrestling costume. Now you know why women don't compete in that event. In fact, according to legend the costume was devised after a woman secretly entered the wrestling competition and won.)

After an opening ceremony of music and dancing, the competition begins. Wrestling is a hugely popular event. (Again, look at the costumes.) Men from all parts of Mongolia travel to compete. There are no weight divisions, meaning a big man can go toe-to-toe with a smaller man, and no time limits on bouts. The loser is the man who falls first. Bouts can happen very quickly, or seem to take a very long time as the wrestlers look as if they are standing in an embrace, waiting for the perfect opening to throw their opponent. Then the winner performs the "eagle dance" as his defeated opponent takes off his jacket and walks under the winner's outstretched arm.

Mongols come from a nomadic tradition which is still very much part of Mongolian life. In order to cross huge expanses of steppe, horses are essential, and it is often said that a Mongol child first learns to ride before he or she can walk. Genghis Khan and his descendants relied on their expert horsemanship to create and maintain their vast empire. So it's no surprise that horseback riding is part of the naadam. Horses are ridden cross-country, with the length of each race determined by the horses' age class. The true competitors of the horse racing event are the horses, not the jockeys. In fact, most of the jockeys are between the ages of five (yes, five) and thirteen, ensuring their smallness so as not to tire the horses. Feasting inevitably surrounds the races as spectators eat and cheer their horses to victory.

Archery is another key Mongolian sport. Bow hunting and bow-based warfare are both vital historical aspects of life on the steppe. At the naadam, men and women compete in separate divisions. All the competitors dress in traditional dress. Unlike modern archers' use of compound bows, Mongols vying in the naadam use recurved composite bows of horn, leather and bark. Arrows are made of willow branches with vulture feather fletching. They shoot at round, leather targets. Men stand 75 meters and women 60 meters from the targets. Nearby judges evaluate each shot with a shout of "uukhai" ("bull's-eye") and a raised hand. Winning archers are those who hit the targets the most times.

Accompanying all these competitions are, of course, celebrations, music, games, dancing and feasts--all the things Mongols love, and they take special delight in celebrating during the brief summer.

When I began researching Mongolia for my upcoming "Blades of the Rose" novel WARRIOR, I learned about the naadam. The whole festival captured my imagination, being so emblematic of Mongol life and culture. I knew I would have to incorporate the naadam into WARRIOR's plot--and I did, but I can't reveal just yet how the festival plays an important part in the story. For that, you'll have to read the book. Until its release next September, stay warm and dream of competing on the wide, grassy steppe beneath the eternal sky.

Athletes as Heroes

In a few weeks the preparation for the annual fall religious festival will begin. Boys as young as five to the oldest coherent man in the nursing home will take part. For the boys and young men Spring Training triggers dreams of glory and hero status. For the men who aren't as nimble or young as they used to be it will be the time to start picking fantasy teams.

If you haven't already guessed, the fall religious festival is FOOTBALL. Here in the South this sport is second only to God. Events are scheduled around open dates and away games.

Football is king.

But, this hasn't always been so. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were at the top of the list.

For years I've heard the elusive "they" tell us we can't use a sports figure as our hero. Someone should pass this tidbit on to Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I'm sure her millions of fans (me included) would understand if she switched to making her alpha, macho sports heroes into physicist and nuclear scientist. (VBG)

(NOT!)

Here are some sports facts you should know if you are writing a 1920's athletic hero.

The baseball teams we have today aren't necessarily the same as then.

In the 1920's the Atlanta Braves were the Boston Braves. This is longest continuous franchise in Major League Baseball©. In 1936, the team was renamed to the Boston Bees. (Doesn't this make you shudder?) In 1941, the name reverted to the Boston Braves. In 1953 the team moved to Milwaukee and became the Milwaukee Braves. The last move was to Atlanta in 1966.

Los Angeles Dodgers 1884-2006
Brooklyn Atlantics, Brooklyn Grays, Brooklyn Bridegrooms, Brooklyn Grooms, Brooklyn Superbas (this is spelled correctly, but I have no idea what it means), Brooklyn Robins, Brooklyn Dodgers

New York Yankees 1901-2006
Baltimore Orioles, New York Highlanders

Click here for more information.

Football started to get a toe hold in the 1920s. It has been around since the 1870s. In 1920, the first pro league, the American Professional Football Association, was founded, in a meeting at a Hupmobile car dealership in Canton, Ohio. The legendary Olympian and all-round athlete Jim Thorpe was elected president. The initial group of 11 teams, of which all but one were located in the Midwest, was originally less a league than an agreement not to rob other teams' players. In the early years, APFA members continued to play non-APFA teams. By the start of the 1920 season, the list of teams had grown to 14. They were:

• Canton Bulldogs
• Chicago Cardinals
• Chicago Tigers
• Cleveland Tigers
• Columbus Panhandles
• Dayton Triangles
• Decatur Staleys
• Detroit Heralds
• Hammond Pros
• Muncie Flyers
• Rochester Jeffersons
• Rock Island Independents
• Akron Pros
• Buffalo All-Americans

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As for basketball, it was still developing and growing into the sport we know today. It didn't really take off beyond high schools and colleges until after WWII. Click here for more information.

Stock car racing wasn't a sport then. It developed out of the hills and hollers of the south. The drivers were trying to out run the G-men. Moonshine making and transporting, then as now, is against the law.

My husband's grandfather spent 11/29 in the Atlanta pen for making shine. My grandfather was an auto mechanic for his family's operation. He had this one driver who after every run complained that his car had a miss. Papaw worked and worked on that car. Finally, he made the driver take him on a run.

The only seat in these cars was for the driver. All available room was for the hooch. The driver is in his seat and papaw is setting on top of cases of the clear liquid libation. The scenery is flashing by the windows. The speedometer creeps higher and higher as they drive on curvy, one lane, dirt roads. (Think "Dukes of Hazzard," only narrower and sharper curves.) Finally the speed reaches 103 mph.

The driver says, "There, here that miss?"

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The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) was founded in 1916, 15 years after the first Professional Golfers' Association was established in Great Britain. It conducts the PGA and PGA Senior tournaments and Ryder Cup competition between members of the American and British PGAs.

Tournament golf suffered during the depression, but after World War II the circuit flourished with such players as Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret, and Lloyd Mangrum. The purses for wins steadily grew through the last half of the twentieth century. However, for most of the century the game was segregated and available only to those who had the money to pay country club dues and greens fees.

Those early athletes in all pro sports didn't make a fraction of the money today's sports figures earn. However, they did do endorsements in print media and on the radio.

I’m a sucker for a sports story, true or not. There is just something about a man who pushes his body to its physical limits and is willing to sweat in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Since we are already writing outside the norm, why not make our hero an superb athlete?