Golden Rod Stakes (Sheepshead Bay)

The Golden Rod Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually from 1891 through 1908 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. It was a race on turf for two-year-old horses of either sex.[1]

Golden Rod Stakes

Discontinued stakes race
Location	Sheepshead Bay Race Track, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, United States
Inaugurated	1891
Race type	Thoroughbred – Flat racing
Race information
Distance	(6.5 furlongs)
Surface	Turf
Track	Left-handed
Qualification	Two-year-olds

Historical notes

The 1891 inaugural was won by Lew Weir, owned and trained by Edward Corrigan, the Canadian-born founder and owner of Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney/Cicero, Illinois.[2]

Henry of Navarre won the 1893 running and at age three and again at age four earned American Horse of the Year honors. He would be inducted into the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame in 1985.

Havoc won this race in 1894 for his owner and trainer David Boyle. In early 1897 Havoc was sold to Joseph E. Seagram, a major stable owner and breeder for whom David Boyle's father Charles was the trainer. Charles Boyle career would see him inducted into Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. For Seagram, Havoc became a very successful sire of four King's Plate winners including Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Famer Inferno.[3]

The 1896 Golden Rod Stakes winner was Julius Cahn's Typhoon II who went on to win the 1897 Kentucky Derby.[4]

In addition to winning the 1903 Golden Rod Stakes, Highball won that year's runnings of the Flatbush, Grand Union Hotel and Junior Champion Stakes. Highball's 1903 performances would earn him recognition as American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt.

The Hart–Agnew law repercussions

On June 11, 1908, the Republican controlled New York Legislature under Governor Charles Evans Hughes passed the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation.[5] The owners of Sheepshead Bay Race Track, and other racing facilities in New York State, struggled to stay in business without income from betting.[6] Racetrack operators had no choice but to drastically reduce the purse money being paid out which resulted in the Golden Rod Stakes offering a purse in 1908 that was less than one-third of what it had been in earlier years. These small purses made horse racing unprofitable and impossible for even the most successful horse owners to continue in business. As such, for the 1909 racing season management of the Sheepshead Bay facility dropped some of its minor stakes races and some of those that had multiple editions for the same age and/or distance qualifications. That allowed the track to use the purse money to bolster its most important events.[7] As a result, the Golden Rod Stakes was not run in 1909.

The end of a racetrack

In spite of strong opposition by prominent owners such as August Belmont Jr. and Harry Payne Whitney, reform legislators were not happy when they learned that betting was still going on at racetracks between individuals and they had further restrictive legislation passed by the New York Legislature in 1910.[8] The Agnew–Perkins Law, a series of four bills and recorded as the Executive Liability Act, made it possible for racetrack owners and members of its board of directors to be fined and imprisoned if anyone was found betting, even privately, anywhere on their premises.[9] After a 1911 amendment to the law that would limit the liability of owners and directors was defeated in the Legislature, every racetrack in New York State shut down.[10]

Owners, whose horses of racing age had nowhere to go, began sending them, their trainers and their jockeys to race in England and France. Many horses ended their racing careers there and a number remained to become an important part of the European horse breeding industry. Thoroughbred Times reported that more than 1,500 American horses were sent overseas between 1908 and 1913 and of them at least 24 were either past, present, or future Champions.[11] When a February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division saw horse racing return in 1913.[12] However, it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay horse racing facility and it never reopened.[13][14]

Records

Speed record:

• 1:19.80 @ 6.5 furlongs – Oiseau (1904)
• 1:28.00 @ 7 furlongs – One I Love (1895) & Typhoon (1896)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 2 – Samuel Doggett (1891, 1895)
• 2 – Winfield O'Connor (1899, 1902)

Most wins by a trainer:

• No trainer won this race more than once.

Most wins by an owner:

• No owner won this race more than once.

Winners

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Dist. (Furlongs)	Time	Win$
1908	Harrigan	2	Joe Notter	Herman R. Brandt	Herman R. Brandt	6.5 F	1:21.40	$1,050
1907	Johnnie Blake	2	David Nicol	William E. Phillips	Fred Cook	6.5 F	1:20.60	$2,525
1906	Tourenne	2	Charles Ross	Raleigh Colston Jr.	Frederick A. Forsythe	6.5 F	1:20.60	$2,625
1905	Whimsical	2	Gene Hildebrand	Tim J. Gaynor	Tim J. Gaynor	6.5 F	1:21.40	$2,975
1904	Oiseau	2	Lucien Lyne	Carroll B. Reid	John G. Greener & Co.	6.5 F	1:19.80	$2,350
1903	Highball	2	Grover Fuller	John W. May	Walter M. Scheftel & John W. May	6.5 F	1:21.20	$2,330
1902	Sergeant	2	Winfield O'Connor	W. Preston Burch	Francis R. Hitchcock	6.5 F	1:20.80	$2,300
1901	Homestead	2	Harry Cochran	Green B. Morris	Green B. Morris	6.5 F	1:21.00	$1,980
1900	Bellario	2	Danny Maher	Fred Burlew	Newton Bennington	6.5 F	1:21.60	$1,640
1899	Colonel Roosevelt	2	Winfield O'Connor	Robert Augustus Smith	Robert Augustus Smith	6.5 F	1:21.40	$1,770
1898	Rhinelander	2	Willie Simms	John E. Madden	John E. Madden	6.5 F	1:23.00	$820
1897	Easter Gift	2	Skeets Martin	Frank E. Brown	James R. Keene	6.5 F	1:21.20	$1,150
1896	Typhoon II	2	Willie Martin	Julius C. Cahn	Julius C. Cahn	7 F	1:28.00	$1,150
1895	One I Love	2	Samuel Doggett	John J. Hyland	William P. Thompson	7 F	1:28.00	$1,150
1894	Havoc	2	Henry Griffin	David A. Boyle	David A. Boyle	7 F	1:29.40	$1,180
1893	Henry of Navarre	2	Clarence Bryant	Byron McClelland	Byron McClelland	7 F	1:30.00	$1,035
1892	Prince George	2	John Lamley	Michael J. Daly	William C. Daly	7 F	1:29.40	$1,270
1891	Lew Weir	2	Samuel Doggett	Edward C. Corrigan	Edward C. Corrigan	7 F	1:29.60	$1,245

References

1. "Winners of the Golden Rod Stakes". Daily Racing Form. 1909-09-10. Retrieved 2019-06-09 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
2. "Edward Corrigan Dies At Age 82". New York Times. 1924-07-05. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
3. "Inferno – Hall of Fame Inductee". Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. 1976-01-01. Retrieved 2019-08-09.
4. "Typhoon II". Churchill Downs Incorporated. 2019-08-15. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
5. "Penalties in the New York Bills". Daily Racing Form. 1908-01-18. Retrieved 2018-10-26 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
6. "Keep Up Betting Ban". New York Times. 1908-09-01. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
7. "Coney Island Clubs Sturdy Stand". Daily Racing Form. 1908-08-11. Retrieved 2019-02-03 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
8. Liebman, Bennett (May 24, 2009). "The First American Triple Crown Series". The Rail. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
9. "Racing Men Attack Anti-Betting Bills – Place Every Man Who Makes Private Wager in Jeopardy". New York Times. 1910-04-07. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
10. "Race Track Bill Defeated In Senate; Measure Modifying Directors' Liability for Gambling Fails of Passage". The New York Times. July 14, 1911. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
11. "Racing Through the Century". Thoroughbred Times. February 14, 2000. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
12. "Oral Betting Held Legal: Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court Renders Important Decision". Daily Racing Form. 1913-02-22. Retrieved 2019-06-29 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
13. "Destruction Wrought by Hughes". Daily Racing Form. 1908-12-15. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
14. "Famous Old Track is Sold". Daily Racing Form. 1914-11-17. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.