Posts Tagged ‘Colonel Adam L. Bingaman’
Posted on February 24, 2012 - by Annie Johnson
Rules of the Adams County Jockey Club Unearthed!
Dear Readers:
The Times is pleased the share from the Constitution of the Adams County, Mississippi, Jockey Club (1845) the following selections on rules governing the antebellum turf.
Our racing correspondent discovered this preserved document among the possessions of Natchez turfman William J. Minor, whose papers are currently archived in the Special Collections at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge; both Minor and Colonel Adam L. Bingaman were members of this club [read more about the horses of Minor (Pt. III.) and Bingaman (Parts I.–V.) in the Times' New Orleans Jockey Club 1837 Spring Meeting series].
The excerpts included here are rules on foul riding and “poling.” While the club’s rules were stringent with respect to foul riding, it’s interesting to see some leniency with regard to “poling”—this during a time in racing that predated the railed track.
Posted on October 7, 2011 - by Annie Johnson
Song to the Silver Tea Service of the Louisiana Jockey Club [Part V. - 1837 Races]
“The plate is worth going to see without the race.” – New Orleans Picayune, 22 March 1837
After a week of contests dominated by fillies and colts, Wednesday, Day Six, closing day of the New Orleans Jockey Club’s inaugural spring races over the new Eclipse Course at Carrollton, brought two older horses – six year olds – to the starting line for the two mile.
“These are two of the most celebrated horses that have ever come together in a two mile race,” the New Orleans Picayune announced about the entries: (more…)
Posted on September 9, 2011 - by Annie Johnson
Ode to a Swift Nag: Day Four, New Orleans Jockey Club 1837 Spring Races [Part III. - 1837 Races]
Thy name, swift nag, shall be enroll’d
On every sporting ground.
– New Orleans Picayune, 21 March 1837
Monday, Day Four of the New Orleans Jockey Club’s inaugural spring races over Captain Oliver’s new Eclipse Course might as well have been promoted as Ladies’ Day at the track.
Posted on August 26, 2011 - by Annie Johnson
Captain Oliver’s Triumph: Opening Day at the Eclipse Course, March 17, 1837 [Part I. - 1837 Races]
“Many persons determined to see the race, were compelled to walk, as they did, under a burning sun, four miles and a half.” — Spirit of the Times, 8 April 1837
At the same time that he was Postmaster of Big Lick in 1831, twenty-one-year-old Yelverton N. Oliver was co-proprietor of the race track at Liberty, Virginia. By 1833, he was serving as treasurer of the newly formed Jockey Club and proprietor of the course at Lynchberg. And the next year Oliver was in Washington, reviving the city’s track.
Posted on August 12, 2011 - by Annie Johnson
A Toast to Bumper, the Best Winded, the Fleetest Horse of All [Part II. - 1837 Races]
“The public may probably never have it in their power again to witness such sport!” Captain Yelverton N. Oliver
It was a landmark day for racing in the United States, for this was a Sunday – and the first occasion for a Jockey Club anywhere to hold a contest on the Sabbath. But this was New Orleans, and Sunday was regarded as a day of recreation; continuing the Jockey Club’s six-day race meeting over this Sunday of March 19, 1837, wasn’t considered indecent in the least.
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Antebellum Turf Times is a weekly publication dedicated to America's first national pastime—specifically the history of thoroughbred racing in America prior to the Civil War.
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