How Kentucky Became Southern

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Maryjean Wall. How Kentucky Became Southern

Contents

Introduction

chapter ONE. The Fast Track into the Future

chapter TWO. The Greening of the Bluegrass

chapter THREE. A Killing Spree and a Hanging Tree

chapter FOUR “All the Best Jockeys of the West Are Colored”

chapter FIVE. Old Money Meets the Arrivistes

chapter SIX. Winners and Losers in the Age of Reform

chapter SEVEN. The Idea of Horse Country Reclaimed

Notes. Introduction

1. The Fast Track into the Future

2. The Greening of the Bluegrass

3. A Killing Spree and a Hanging Tree

4. “All the Best Jockeys of the West Are Colored”

5. Old Money Meets the Arrivistes

6. Winners and Losers in the Age of Reform

7. The Idea of Horse Country Reclaimed

Selected Bibliography. Newspapers and Periodicals Consulted

Manuscripts and Collections

Books and Articles. Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z

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a tale of OUTLAWS, HORSE THIEVES, GAMBLERS, and BREEDERS

Maryjean Wall

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So much had changed since the late 1850s, when New Yorkers had looked to Bluegrass Kentuckians as Thoroughbred racing’s leaders, seeking their help in resurrecting the sport in the Northeast. That situation, too, had represented quite a change from previous decades, when New York racing had been quite in vogue. But Thoroughbred racing had operated cyclically for so long in New York, depending on whether antiracing interests held power, that no one there could breed and raise Thoroughbreds with any assurance that there would be tracks where these horses could race.

From 1821 to the later 1830s, New York racing had existed as the epicenter of Thoroughbred racing and had hosted widely anticipated match races between Northern and Southern horses like Eclipse and Sir Henry. These races, some fifty of them, had taken on national import in the 1820s and especially in the 1830s following the Missouri Compromise. Adelman has suggested that these races assumed symbolic connotations for their Northern and Southern audiences, given the hardening feelings between North and South. Despite the increasing sectional animosities and the difficulty of travel, Southerners had brought their best horses north for these showdowns, which took place at the Union Course on Long Island. New York, with its large population base, provided the largest audiences and the greatest number of wagering opportunities, with the betting playing a significant role in these races. Some sixty thousand persons might have witnessed the Eclipse–Sir Henry match in 1823, although these estimates taken from contemporary press accounts may have been exaggerated. Eclipse defeated Sir Henry. The North and New York won that round.34

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