History Makes The Case For Racing In New Jersey

In one week's time, New Jersey will be privileged to enjoy one of horse racing's premier events, the Hambletonian. This horse race is one of trotting's Triple Crown, on a par with Thoroughbred Racing's Kentucky Derby.

You have that right. New Jersey is the host of "The Hambletonian"!!!

The Hambletonian is going to be run next Saturday, August 7, 2010. The gates at the Meadowlands open at 9:30am and the first race post time is at 11:35 am. If Governor Christie continues on his present course, harness racing in New Jersey is an endangered species so experience it while you can. This Hambletonian could be New Jersey's last.

The Meadowlands Race Track was designed for harness racing. I remember the first time they talked about bringing in flat racing and how they would have to change the track material and grade, etc. to accomodate Thoroughbreds. This is a wonderful venue with a home stretch that just seems to go on forever. It means that harness horses get a chance to have that heart-stopping duel in front of the whole grandstand and noone has a bad seat. I invite you to come out for what could be the final year for this milestone in New Jersey's history.

The three preliminary eliminations for the Hambletonian race have already been run and there is now a field of ten horses qualified to compete for harness racing's most prestigious crown. As I understand it, the top three finishers of each of the three heats qualifies, in addition to the one fourth place finisher who has the top lifetime earnings. That makes up the field of ten who finally race in the Hambletonian.

There are two reasons I am writing about this today. One is that I love horses and the threat of losing one of New Jersey's most vital and historic industries to some cockeyed economy move by our present governor just sends me up a wall. The other is that there is a wonderful feeling of connection to something in our traditions, threading through the fabric of our present, but atoms and molecules of what make us "Trenton now".

The history of the Hambletonian goes back to the very origins of the standardbred horse itself. In the 1724 the Goldolphin Arabian arrived in England, with his mute groom as the story goes, and crossed with the native English mares to produce the very beginnings of the Thoroughbred horse. In 1780 a 15.3 hands grey by the name of Messenger was foaled. His sire was Mambrino, great grandson of the Goldophin, and his dam was the "Turf Mare", also a great grandaughter of the Goldophin.

Fast forward to 1849 and the foaling of Hambletonian 10, by Abdallah out of the Charles Kent Mare. Abdallah was extensively inbred, or "line bred". His sire and dam both had Messenger as grandsire. The Kent mare was descended from Messinger, and her great grandsire and great grand dam were also by Messenger. With those concentrated Arab genes, the Hambletonian was destined to be a gorgeous horse, maybe not when he was foaled, but as he grew up...oh my.

Hambletonian 10 was foaled May 5, 1849, in New York State. The owner of his dam was Jonas Seeley, who bought the Charles Kent mare from his butcher. She was crippled, used only for breeding, so not much was expected of the cross to Abdallah since the stallion was reportedly both ugly and nasty. As expected, Hambletonian was rather nondescript as a youngster, but Seeley's hired hand, William Rysdyk, saw something special. He persisted until he finally convinced Seeley to sell him the dam and foal for $125.

As is still done today, young trotters start their careers in Goshen, New York. Hambletonian was shown, probably in hand, at the age of six months at the Orange County Fair in Goshen. He covered (bred) his first mares at the age of two, not always a good idea because the young studs don't always want to go back to real work after having a taste of the ladies, but he was only allowed four mares by his savvy owner.

By 1852, he was trained well enough to compete against another Abdallah son, Abdallah Chief, hitched to "skeleton wagons" at Long Island's Union Course. Hambletonian won but had to run against the clock in a second race and, at that time, the youngster clocked 2:55 1/2. After this huge success, Rysdyk placed the stallion at stud for fees that reached $500 at times. This was in the 1800's so that was a significant amount of income.

Hambletonian sired 1,331 foals during his career in the breeding shed, (and traveling). Rysdyk loved his stallion and made a small fortune from him before he passed on in 1870. Hambletonian outlived him, living to the age of ripe old horse age of 27, and died in 1876. Both were buried in Chester, New York and local folk placed a granite monument over the grave on Hambletonian Avenue as a tribute to their memory.

The present day Hambletonian was set up as the ultimate test of trotters. Although Standardbreds today race as either pacers or trotters, this event is open only to trotting horses and carries the name of it's most prominent sire in tribute.

According to the Harness Racing Hall of Fame, Hambletonian bloodlines have squeezed out most of the other contributors to the Standardbred breed. Messenger and the other early ancestors were registered as Thoroughbreds or cold blooded "grades". Standardbred, as a separate breed, evolved later, after requiring that all candidates for registration meet the "Standard" of trotting a mile in two minues thirty seconds. When a horse met the standard, it qualified to become a Standardbred.

Before the era of automobiles, owning a Morgan trotting horse was like having a roadster instead of a minivan. Morgan bloodlines competed with the Throughbred breeding and many races were set up between favorite horse celebrities. One was the famous Ethan Allan (Morgan) vs. Dexter (Messenger). Ethan Allan won the first and then it was Dexter's turn. That was the pattern of the future. Morgan prestige and influence was eclipsed by the taller Messenger trotters. Their longer strides and tremendous ability won races and they eventually took over the Standardbred breed bloodlines.

There is a Trenton connection to the Hambletonian traditions and I discovered it quite by accident. I enjoy stopping at the Kuser Park in Hamilton to eat my lunch, sitting under the shady trees and enjoying the view of the Kuser mansion and broad grounds. On one of these visits, I spotted an engraved granite oblisk surrounded by many carefully tended flowers. Getting closer with my reading glasses, I read that it was a memorial to Goldsmith Maid.

"Goldsmith Maid. The Queen of Trotters for Seven Years". The inscribing continues,

"Born Sussex County 1857, Died Here Sept 23, 1885. Best Record 2.14, Made at Boston 1874. Earned $364,200, the World's Record. Driven By Budd Doble, Owned By Henry N. Smith". I had to learn more about this because there is no evidence of a track or barns within the area of the granite slab.

A world famous trotter here in Trenton? Who knew.

After many hours of research and printing obscure newspaper articles from the New York Times, the Atlantic Reporter, and even the 1877 Cultivator and Country Gentleman, I have put together a dilly of a yarn about Goldsmith Maid. She deserves some time to herself so I will wrap this up now.

The Hambletonian race is being held next Saturday. For a glimpse into the past and a chance to help the equine industry in New Jersey, make a trip to the Meadowlands for this great event. It usually is not an expensive outing, not like Atlantic City, because there are no slot machines as yet. There are restaurants and other attractions for the holiday that make it worth the trip.

Let yourself back in time and imagine the country fair atmosphere, the stands full of straw hats and cotton gowns, the band music and smells of popcorn and horse sweat. The start of this race is different from flat racing. Thoroughbreds enter a gate and then leap out at a bell. Standardbreds start trotting as soon as they enter the track. There is the drama of the post parade, as the horses settle into their gaits, until they are all in a row...and then,

"They're off!"

The time it takes the field to make the circuit of the Meadowsland track is a lifetime. I have seen crashes, buggies so close that they tangle wheels and one comes off, horses running up on each other, dreadful races where the winner is the last one left trotting...and yet nothing compares to that streak of sheer speed drumming down the track, stands full of cheering patrons stomping so hard you think the grandstand will fall down. There is nothing like standing at the finish line as the horses and sulkies come thundering down, whips snapping and spit flying, to cross that invisible beam of light that records the winner.

Whew!

This is not a video game; this is the real thing.

Have a nice day.