FYI -- Asteroid's 13th race

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steward
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Posts: 492
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:28 pm

FYI -- Asteroid's 13th race

Postby steward » Mon Nov 10, 2014 10:49 am

Always on the lookout for uncredited races for famous American horses, I chased down some evidence based upon the scattered references to Asteroid running for the Woodlawn vase after the Civil War. In modern compilations, he is always credited for 12 races. That dozen can be found easily in the Crickmore publication released in 1901.

http://books.google.com/books?id=hIkGAA ... ex&f=false

However, none of the 1865 races refer to the Woodlawn Vase. So, after a lot of clicks, I finally found a source in the May 19, 1866 edition of the Spirit of the Times weekly:

http://books.google.com/books?id=2s05AQ ... 22&f=false

It makes it clear that Asteroid walked over for the Vase (and sometime shortly before the date of publication).

Using other resources found on pay sites, I found that the Woodlawn races occurred on May 7th and May 8th, with more days scheduled to come off. However, heavy rains and poor attendance caused the meeting to be cancelled. The Cincinnati Enquirer of May 10 said that the Vase race would be run that day, but with Asteroid as its only remaining entrant.

That meshes well with the Spirit of the Times material. So unless stronger evidence is presented, it can be assumed that Asteroid indeed did cover the necessary formality miles on May 10, 1866, and R. A. Alexander retained the Vase.

steward
Allowance Winner
Posts: 492
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:28 pm

Re: FYI -- Asteroid's 13th race

Postby steward » Mon Nov 10, 2014 11:19 am

BTW, in addition to this discovery, I waded through the history of the Woodlawn Vase, prior to it becoming part of the Preakness scene.

I found a total of 22 races, run at five different venues (Woodlawn in Louisville, Sheepshead, Jerome Park, and Morris Park in NY, and the Elizabeth track in New Jersey). I am pretty confident that no more will be uncovered.