More Horse Racing Facts
Woodbine Race Track is the only racing facility in North America able to hold thoroughbred racing and harness racing programs on the same day. This is due to its three race-courses -- the outermost EP Taylor turf course for thoroughbreds at 1 ½ miles, the inner oval main dirt course for thoroughbreds which is 1 mile long, and the 7/8 mile long oval harness racing course made of crushed limestone.
Woodbine was originally the name of an older race track located in east Toronto that operated from 1874 to 1993. When the new racetrack was built in 1956, the Woodbine name was carried over to the new track. The old race track was thereafter known as "Old Woodbine" but it was officially renamed "Greenwood."
In the history of the Pennsylvania Derby, Joe Bravo is regarded as the jockey with the Most Pennsylvania Derby Wins with 2 (1994 and 2003). On the other hand, Woody Stephens holds the record for trainer with Most Pennsylvania Derby Wins at three (1979, 1984 and 1988). The first woman to win a Pennsylvania Derby was Andrea Seefeldt when she rode Valley Crossing to the win in the 1991 Derby.
Since the Pennsylvania Derby was inaugurated in 1979, it has been won by 23 colts and 3 geldings. 19 of these winners were bay-colored, 4 were chestnut, and three were gray. Nine of the Derby winners were bred in Kentucky, 8 from Maryland and 5 from Florida. Canada, Illinois, Ohio all produced 1 Derby winner each. Pennsylvania, the home of the Derby, has only bred one Derby winner so far -- Devil's Honor -- who won the 1996 running of the race.
Citation's win in the 1951 staging of the Hollywood Gold Cup made him the first race horse to gain career earnings of $1 million. In 1979, Affirmed's Gold Cup victory made him the first horse to achieve career earnings of $2 million. On the other hand, John Henry's win of the Hollywood Gold Cup in 1983 made him the first race horse in history to pocket $4 million in career earnings.
In Del Cap history, the fastest time recorded at the current track distance of 1 ¼ miles is 1:59 4/5 in 1987 by Coup de Fusil.
In the summer of 1873, two thoroughbreds, Bing Aman and Mart Jordan ended their race in a dead heat at the Gravesend Race Track in New York. To determine the winner, the horses were run a second time but once again the race ended in a dead heat. A third run was done which resulted in yet another dead heat. On the fourth run it seemed that the race ended in another dead heat but judges ruled Bing Aman as the winner by a nose. However, the audience violently protested the judges' decision and their protests severely damaged the track.
October 1, 1956 was the luckiest day for jockey Johnny Heckman at the Hawthorne Race Track in Chicago. On that day he rode winners in the first, second, fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth races. His lucky streak continued the next day when Heckman won another couple of races.
In 12th-century England, Henry II mated the offspring of the speedy Arabian stallions bred in the 9th - 11th century with his own powerful mares. The resultant breed drew proud owners into informal wagers and races to determine the superior horses and riders.
The first public racecourse opened in London about 1174, and the "sport of kings" became a staple of fairs.
As early as the 16th century, prizes were awarded in English racing, but the 12th Earl of Derby originated (1780) the first event held on a sweepstakes basis (whereby the winner "sweeps" the stake offered) at his estate in Epsom; known as the Epsom Derby or English Derby, it continues to be held annually.
In 1750, racing's elite met at Newmarket to form the Jockey Club, which to this day exercises complete control over English racing. The Jockey Club wrote complete rules of racing and sanctioned racecourses to conduct meetings under those rules.
James Weatherby, whose family served as accountants to the members of the Jockey Club, was assigned the task of tracing the pedigree, or complete family history, of every racing horse in England. In 1791 the results of his research were published as the Introduction to the General Stud Book. By the early 1800s, the only horses that could be called "thoroughbreds" and allowed to race were those descended from horses listed in the General Stud Book.
In 1919, the first Triple Crown winner Sir Barton won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, the Wither Stakes and the Belmont Stakes in a space of just 32 days.
In 1951, Citation capped off his career with a victory in the Hollywood Gold Cup that made him thoroughbred racing's first millionaire.
Secretariat's race records in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes stand even to this day. His run in the Belmont Stakes is not only a race record, but the world record for a mile and a half on a dirt track.
Affirmed and Alydar's stretch duel in the Belmont Stakes in 1978 was one of the greatest in racing history. In fact, the call of CBS television sportscaster Chic Anderson that "We'll test these two to the wire!" became one of the landmarks in TV sports.
In 1996, Cigar became the very first winner of the Dubai World Cup. Said to be the World's Richest Race Meeting, it had a purse of US $5 million.
The first thoroughbred to reach America was Bulle Rock, who was imported from England in 1730.
Americans set about creating their own version of the thoroughbred in the 1700s by blending imported stock with their own native horses and adding strains of the short, tough, and fast American Indian pony.
Flying Childers is considered the first truly great racer in the history of the thoroughbred horse. Flying Childers was bred by Colonel Leonard Childers of Yorkshire, England. He was sired by Darley Arabian, one of the breed's three foundation sires.
The thoroughbred Diomed is considered to be the Father of the American thoroughbred. He was a racing legend in England who won the inaugural English Derby in 1780. He was sold to a Virginia breeder in 1798 and over the following ten years, sired many successful progeny.
The 1848 Gold Rush was responsible for carrying the thoroughbred to America's westernmost frontier, California.
Union Race Course was the first race track to have a "skinned" or artificially surfaced track. The "skin" was dirt; the track opened in 1821 in Long Island. Unlike the traditional English grass tracks, the dirt track proved fast, and Union became the model for future American tracks.