Thoroughbred racing

Maryland Historical Society

Maryland enjoys a long association with thoroughbred horseracing. Horse racing in the American colonies may be traced to 1660s, and the first recorded race in Maryland took place at Annapolis in 1721. A group of gentlemen founded a jockey club in Annapolis in 1743.

Thoroughbred does not simply mean pedigree. The term describes a breed of horse with ancestry dating to the late seventeenth century, when three Arabian "foundation" stallions came to England. All modern thoroughbreds descend from only one male descendant of the original three: from the Byerly Turk came Herod; from the Darley Arabian came Eclipse; and from the Godolphin Arabian came Matchem.

In 1747, Governor Samuel Ogle imported to his estate "Belair" the first documented pair of breeding English thoroughbreds in America, Spark and Queen Mab, gifts from Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore. His horses quickly established that no other breed was superior to the speed of a thoroughbred. Colonel Benjamin Tasker Jr., with Samuel Galloway, imported the famous mare Selima, producing one of the great early American race horses, Selim. Governor Horatio Sharpe+ imported, bred and raced Othello, and Hampton's Charles Carnan Ridgely's horses such as Bonaparte and Post Boy ruled the turf in the nineteenth century.

The Maryland Jockey Club was resurrected in 1783 after the Revolution, and the club today still holds the dominant role in the racing sport in the state. In 1870 the present Maryland Jockey Club under its president, Governor Oden Bowie, pledged to build a new racetrack and subsequently opened Pimlico Race Course.

Racing gained enormous social significance in the nineteenth century in Upper Marlborough, Annapolis, and Leonardtown. Venerable tracks include Pimlico, Laurel, and Timonium, as well as Bowie and Bel Air.

Black horsemen became highly valued slaves in the colonial era. African American trainers were figures of authority because of their expertise. Often freed from slavery and paid for their skills, these men were well-respected in racing culture. Black jockeys dominated the profession in the racing circuit. Andrew Jackson, born in a slave family, rode his first winner at Saratoga in 1872. Many of his mounts came from the stable of Governor Oden Bowie, and in 1883 Andrew went to work for Bowie. In 1900, Marylander William Woodward (1876-1953) hired Jackson.

Woodward's Belair Stud produced two Triple Crown winners, Gallant Fox in 1930, and Omaha in 1935, the only father and son pair in history. Belair's Nashua was horse of the year in 1955. Woodward's daughter Edith Woodward Bancroft bred Damascus, named for the Maryland town. He was named 1967 Horse of the Year, as well as Champion Three Year Old Colt and co-Champion Handicap Horse.

War Admiral claims great fame for the Worcester County estate, Glen Riddle Farm, owned by Samuel Riddle of Pennsylvania. The awesome son of Man o' War won all three legs of the Triple Crown of 1937.

More recently in Maryland racing history, in Woodstock, Mrs. Richard DuPont's best horse Kelso was five-time Horse of the Year. Harry Meyerhoff of Easton owned Spectacular Bid, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 1979 and Horse of the Year in 1980.

Baltimore County has become preeminent in thoroughbred circles. The Hunt Cup and My Lady's Manor steeplechases are two major timber-racing events. In the Worthington Valley, noted for both its excellent thoroughbreds as well as many of the state's best horsemen and women, steeplechases and fox hunts join the horse sports. It was here that Alfred G. Vanderbilt bred and owned Native Dancer at Sagamore Farm. A foal of 1950, he lost the Derby in a photo finish in 1953 but won all his other starts (21 out of 22, including the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont). The "Gray Ghost of Sagamore" was a popular broadcast television racer.

Maryland-bred Cigar, a bay colt, bred and owned by Allen Paulson, possessed an aristocratic heritage. His grandsire was the mighty Seattle Slew on his dam's side, and his great-grandsire was Northern Dancer on his sire's. He was granted the Eclipse award as the older male champion and Horse of the Year for 1995 and 1996.