Only in America would they name a sprint race after a horsebest known for winning what is universally recognized as “asevere stamina test.”
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| From Porter's Spirit of the Times, October 31, 1857 |
In 2008, Teresa Genaro over at BrooklynBackstretch delved into the New York Timescoverage of Prioress’ Europeancampaign, particularly two letters written by a Newmarket correspondentreacting to her Cesarewitch win by concluding she “is only a very second-rate animal.” At Thoroughbred Heritage,Patricia Erigero elaborates more upon Prioress’career, including the interesting fact that the year following her Cesarewitchwin Prioress dead-heated for secondin the same race, this time carrying 126 lbs., the second highest weight in thefield. During her racing career, she won carrying as much as 140 lbs., althoughshe also failed to win at that weight too, attempted at age 7—and over adistance of three miles. Yes, three miles!
During my recent stint at the National Sporting Library, Iuncovered a fascinating account of Prioress’ Cesarewitch victory in Porter’s Spirit of the Times (vol. III,no. 9, October 31, 1857), the hard-to-find publication edited by William Porterafter he left his position as editor (and co-founder) at the older Spirit of the Times paper; after Porter’sdeath in 1858, it became known as Wilkes’Spirit of the Times. The issue in question featured the race as its coverstory, with an illustration of Prioressdefeating El Hakim and Queen Bess in the run-off racecontested on the same day as the Cesarewitch after the big event ended in atriple dead heat.
The paper reprinted the October 14 London Times race results with a list of all 34competitors, carrying weights ranging 129 lbs. (carried by Fisherman and Warlock,the later only because his jockey was six pounds overweight) to a mere 66 lbs(carried by the 3-year-old fillies WildHoney and Queen Bess). Can youimagine a 66-pound jockey?!? The 3-year-old colt El Hakim carried 93 lbs, as did 4-year-old Prioress. The betting public favored 3-year-old colt M. Dobler at 4-1, with El Hakim second choice at 8-1; Queen Bess was 30-1, while the Americaninvader Prioress went to post at100-1.
Porter’s reporter, coyly known only as “Don John,” sets thescene thusly:
Imagine the wideexpanse of that noblest race track in the world (or rather series of tracks),embracing many miles of mossy turf, with thousands of spectators from all partsof the United Kingdom, and Continental Europe, assembled to witness the great andall-engrossing struggle for the Cesarewitch; and then conceive, if you can, thefeverish anxiety manifested, when no less than thirty-four thorough-bred horsesappeared, saddled for the fray, their several jockeys attired in all the gloryof silk and satin of the rainbow’s hues, whilst the animals they bestroderepresented the flower of English racing chivalry—the large majority of themhaving previously won honor and renown in many a well-contested field, whilstof the small minority of candidates for Turf honors, high hopes wereentertained by their friends and owners. It was an array to make the eyebrighten, the pulse quicken, and the whole frame to quiver with excitement, asthe gallant squadron passed in review, prior to wheeling into line for thatgrand charge, the result of which was awaited with so much anxiety, and whichwould bring joy to some, and the confusion of defeat to others; whilst,causing, perhaps, a couple of millions of dollars to change owners in a fewshort moments. Can you wonder that, although hastily scanning with eager eyethe form and condition of each other candidate, I gave a long and lingeringgaze to the gallant mare who was the sole representative of America; or that,as she passed down the track, I wished her “God speed” on the journeyhomewards, and then resigned myself to fate.
I love his description of the start:
The starter, flag inhand, gathered his noble field of horses together, and after one or two attempts,brought them to a stand still line. In a moment the red signal fell, and awaythey went, helter-skelter, like a cluster of bees, close together, for the dashof two and a quarter miles, the start being a beautiful and most effective one.
After the start, Prioresssettled mid-pack with El Hakim,while Queen Bess battled for theearly lead. As the correspondent notes, “at the Bushes the pace began to tell”and Queen Bess took the clear leadwith Prioress and El Hakim joining her as they descendedthe hill and approached the cords. ElHakim was at Queen Bess’ neck,while Prioress is described as “runningby herself on the far side.” As the correspondent notes:
One of the mostexciting Cesarewitch finishes ever seen then ensured. Prioress, half way up thecords, seemed to be about coming in alone, but the tiny jockeys of El Hakim andQueen Bess made a determined set to, and the judge, unable to separate thefirst three, pronounced a dead heat.
They finished the 18-furlong event in a time of 4:09.
What happened next is an extraordinary thing—a deciding heatof another 2-1/4 miles “run after the last race in a deepeningtwilight, which rendered it impossible to distinguish the colors of the ridersat a distance.” Our intrepid correspondent reports:
El Hakim was firstoff, but after going about fifty yards, Prioress, overpowering [her jockey]Fordham, rushed to the front, and carried on the running to the ditch gap,where she was pulled back, and lay about three lengths in the rear, Queen Bessgoing on with the lead, closely attended by El Hakim. On coming down the Busheshill, Prioress hung to the left, and a shout was raised of “the American’sbeaten!” But Fordham roused the mare with his whip, and before reaching thefoot of the hill she bore her colors in advance, and quitting her opponents half-wayup the cords, won cleverly by a length and a half; El Hakim beating Queen Bessby a head only for second place. A loud and prolonged cheer hailed the triumphof the American colors, and [owner] Mr. Ten Broeck was warmly congratulatedupon the first victory achieved by him in England.
The “second” Cesarewitch of 1857 was concluded in 4:15, and,interestingly, the very next day Mr. Richard Ten Broeck won his second race onEnglish soil, the Bedford Stakes with his 2-year-old filly Belle, also ridden by Fordham.
However, it was Prioress’victory that had all of America gloating. Porter’sSpirit of the Times declared it a “Victory of America Over All England” andwithin its historical context, this race marked a key moment in Americanracing. Think of it, sending a horse—via pre-Civil War means of transportation—abroad to race inthe country where the sport of thoroughbred racing first began, not to mentionthe country from which the United States had but relatively recently acquiredits independence. Even today, other than the outstandingly-sporting Kenneth andSarah Ramsey, it’s rare for American horses to ship abroad (other than for thelucrative Dubai World Cup races). So, Richard Ten Broeck’s English invasionmarked a significant event.
As John Dizikes notes in his book Sportsmen and Gamesmen, American racing of the 1850s occurred ondirt tracks that were oval in shape and run in a counterclockwise manner, muchdifferent from the grassy, irregular meandering courses found in England wherecontestants ran to “the Right.” Also, as Dizikes rightly contends, “English horsemen took the traditional viewthat the race was against the competition and not the clock.” (p. 129). So,fundamentally, American racing had diverged from whence it first emerged, andits proponents sought to promote its legitimacy by taking on the staid Englishtraditionalists on their own turf. For that reason alone, the Americans hadreason to celebrate, and Porter’s correspondent led the cheer:
Victory! Victory!Victory! a plain, straightforward, honest victory at last; not the victory of amatch race between horse and horse, but the victory of America over allEngland, in the greatest handicap race of the English racing year. Thelegitimate triumph of “Young America” over “Old England,” the defeat of theflower of English racing stock by the American mare Prioress, is the feat Ihave to record—a feat which obliterates the memory of previous disasters, andcompensates for all the disappointments to which American sporting men—proud oftheir native land, and firmly convinced of the equality at least of theAmerican with the English horse—have been subjected.
We have been accusedof being a nation of boasters; our vaunted equality as breeders and trainers ofrace-horses has been laughed at; our debut at Goodwood, with animals out of allform and condition, enabled our victors to sneer at our puny efforts, as theydescribed them, whilst our subsequent appearances elsewhere have beensynonymous with defeat. It is now our turn to smile. We have beaten the Englishat their own game; and they are now content to admit that we had reasons andcogent ones, for the ground we took at starting, and that, with health andcondition on our side, we were at least their equals. They expressed a desirethat we should win one race, at least, in reward of the “pluck” and spirit wehad displayed in sending horses across the wide Atlantic to compete with them.We have gratified that desire, and carried off the richest prize that was opento our competition; a prize far superior, in both intrinsic value and as aracing test, to the much-coveted Goodwood Cup, and a prize of which we mayjustly feel proud. As we bore defeat after defeat with meekness, confident inour strength, and that the time would inevitably come, when a victory worthy ofus would be ours, so let us bear ourselves in the hour of legitimate triumph.
That’s why Prioress meant so much historically, regardlessof her overall career, failure as a broodmare and early death—and why a meresprint race 155 years later fittingly celebrates our racing history for a change.
Note:
John Dizikes’s chapter on “Richard Ten Broeck and theAmerican Invasion” pp. 124-157, in his Sportsmenand Gamesmen: From the Years that Shaped American Ideas about Winning andLosing and How to Play the Game (Houghton Mifflin, 1981; reprinted Universityof Missouri Press, 2002) is well worth reading as an informative study of mid-19thcentury American horse racing—the societal context of the sport as well as thesubculture formed within it. It’s available free via Google Books here.
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