Under Siege: Kentucky and the Transformation of American Thoroughbred Racing, 1865–1936 Gary A. O’Dell (bio) Cycles in Thoroughbred Racing For many Americans, the sport of Thoroughbred racing must seem a quaint relic of a bygone era that only surfaces into public awareness once per year in May with the running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville. Nevertheless, the breeding and racing of these horses is a multi-billion-dollar international industry. Kentucky has a long and globally recognized association with the sport that extends back to the earliest days of settlement, and which today constitutes a major segment of the regional economy. While many other locations, including Marion County, Florida; Newmarket, England; Chantilly, France; and the state of Texas, may with some justification compete for the title of “Horse Capital of the World,” there is little doubt that the Bluegrass region of Kentucky is the heart of the modern Thor-oughbred industry. This has not always been the case.1 The sport has long experienced cycles of decline and resurgence in vitality and popularity, driven by changes in the social, political, and economic fabric of the nation, and by the upheaval of war. In association with these root causes, the geographic centers for breeding [End Page 389] and racing Thoroughbred horses have periodically shifted back and forth from east to west, south to north, with Kentucky sometimes in the dominant position, and sometimes not. Thoroughbred racing was the first mass spectator sport in America, which, like baseball, was adapted from English precursors to suit American needs and tastes. First established in the colonies as an elite gentlemen’s sport, Thoroughbred racing reached the point of extinction during the Civil War. Yet, racing rebounded strongly afterward and during the remainder of the nineteenth century experienced a profound transformation in virtually all aspects of the sport. Racing became increasingly democratic and commercialized, and whereas overt gambling was once prohibited from tracks, wagering on races became the most important revenue stream and a driving force in the post-war expansion of the developing industry. As the nineteenth century ended, the sport was roiled by competing internal factions and assaulted by Progressive anti-gambling social reformers who nearly succeeded in eliminating Thoroughbred racing. Because a preoccupation with horse racing has been nearly constant in Kentucky from the pioneer era to the present day, the history of the sport within the Commonwealth provides an appropriate lens to focus upon the broader picture of national developments in Thoroughbred racing and breeding.2 American Racing Before the Civil War The first Thoroughbreds arrived in the American colonies near the middle of the eighteenth century, imported from England by wealthy southern planters who wished to emulate the aristocratic lifestyles of the mother country. Breeding and racing these horses became firmly rooted in colonial New York and in the southern states, particularly the Tidewater region of Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina. During the Revolutionary War, destruction of infrastructure by the British invaders along with confiscation and deliberate slaughter [End Page 390] of bloodstock devastated the lowland racing establishment and promoted the westward shift of Thoroughbred racing and breeding into Kentucky and Tennessee. The central areas of these states, both known collectively as “the Bluegrass region” prior to the Civil War, were the first trans-Appalachian areas to be settled, and the hardy pioneers brought livestock with them to help tame the new land. Racing horses of ordinary breeds otherwise used for transportation and cultivation became a common form of recreation for Bluegrass residents, usually informal matches between a pair of horses down a straight path cleared for the purpose, or through the streets of a community.3 The Tidewater gentry who came to the western frontier imported Thoroughbred horses and brought order to the sport, laying out oval courses of measured length, establishing jockey clubs, and promulgating rules and regulations to govern the conduct of race meetings in the British tradition. Thoroughbred racing was essentially a gentlemen’s sport, indulged in by wealthy elites who had the means to acquire and maintain these expensive animals. The racing associations were exclusive clubs for the benefit of members who raced their horses against those of other members, with prizes...
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Jan 1, 2020
Anna Madej 
