<div dir="ltr"><div>All,</div><div>Please find attached and below my review of Steven Riess, <i>Horse Racing the Chicago Way</i></div><div>Thanks</div><div>Duncan</div><div><br></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Riess, Steven A. <i>Horse Racing the Chicago Way: Gambling,
Politics, and Organized Crime, 1837-1911.</i><span>
</span>New York: Syracuse University Press, 2022.<span> </span>XIX + 413 pp.<span>
</span>Illustrations, Tables, Appendix, Notes, Bibliography, Index.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Reviewed by Duncan R. Jamieson, Ashland University, Ashland
OH USA<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>Thoroughbred horse
racing, “The Sport of Kings,” is immensely popular in both the United States
and Great Britain among many other nations around the globe. The Royal
Ascot, run in June is undoubtedly England’s most famous and prestigious flat
track racing event. In the United States, The Kentucky Derby, run at
Louisville’s Churchill Downs is the first race for the famed Triple Crown.
The Run for the Roses is followed by the Preakness at Baltimore’s Pimlico
Race Course. Finally, the longest of the three races at one and one-half
miles is the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York, a suburb of New York
City. While these represent the summa cum laude for thoroughbred horse
racing, there are thousands of tracks across the United States and Great
Britain, in large and not so large cities that thrill and delight millions of
fans, male and female who turn out to witness the drama, and, perhaps pick the
winner to take home more money than they hoped for. In addition to the
thoroughbreds, harness racing can be found in virtually every community which
hosts a county fair, though here it will be trotters and pacers rather than
thoroughbreds, with drivers in a two wheeled cart rather than jockeys atop the
horse. In Ashland where we live, the fairgrounds are about a mile away
from our house and we can hear the races being announced. In Wooster
where my wife works, she can see the trotters going around the track in the
morning as she drives to the College of Wooster. Whether thoroughbreds or
trotters, it is exciting to watch the power of the horse and the skill and
strategy of the jockey or the sulky driver. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>
I’ve watched the trotters in both Ashland and Wooster and before them
thoroughbreds.<span> </span>I grew up in Queens
Village, New York, about four miles from Belmont Race Course.<span> </span>I have fond memories as a child seeing the
horses as we drove past the stables on our way to wherever.<span> </span>The father of one of my friends was very
interested in thoroughbred horse racing. He would follow the horses’
pedigrees through the mare’s line, and far more often than not he picked the
winners, though he rarely bet.<span> </span>That
friend often went to Belmont, placing $2.00 bets more for entertainment than
the hope of winning, but not being interested in betting myself, I only went to
Belmont Race Course once.<span> </span>As Steven
Riess points out in his Preface, “people would quickly find it very boring to
watch horses ride around an oval unless there was money involved” (xvi).<span> </span>In contrast, my friend and I went to the
Bronx to watch the Yankees play multiple times, and I went with my father to
Brooklyn to watch “dem bums” play in Ebbets Field before they decamped to the
West Coast in 1957.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">As will become
evident very quickly to anyone who picks up <i>Horse Racing the Chicago Way</i>,
Steve Riess’ knowledge of horse racing is encyclopedic, and his writing is
lively and engaging.<span> </span>This follows his
2011 book, <i>The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime: Horse Racing, Politics
and Organized Crime in New York City, 1865-1913</i>, also published by Syracuse
University Press.<span> </span>The greatest interest
in the United States was in New York City, followed closely by Chicago.<span> </span>Early on it was more with trotters and
pacers, as saddle racing was seen to be “too English.”<span> </span>By the 1830s, however, the memory of America’s
colonial past had sufficiently faded which allowed thoroughbred racing to gain
in popularity, the huge draw underpinned by gambling, which over time became
racing’s downfall.<span> </span>Despite baseball
being “America’s pastime,” with Chicago’s White Stockings winning multiple
pennants in the 1880s, thoroughbred horse racing had consistently larger
audiences.<span> </span><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span>Riess
builds his understanding of horse racing, America’s first sport, around three
main points that run throughout the book.<span>
</span>First and foremost, gambling made horse racing a successful spectator
sport for without the gamblers there would be no way for the tracks to turn a
profit, without which there would be no racing.<span>
</span>Because the races were all relatively short, the number of races
increased the opportunity to bet.<span> </span>On the
one hand, gambling was viewed as a victimless activity, though on the other,
some believed it ruined families, leaving the wives and children
impoverished.<span> </span>Yet it was, as Riess
argues, this financial support that allowed two types of tracks to
develop.<span> </span>One model is exemplified by Chicago’s
Washington Park Club, a nonprofit race course with luxurious stands and large
purses to attract the moneyed clientele necessary to build and maintain the
facility.<span> </span>Alternatively, smaller and
less ostentatious tracks were built with the intent of turning a profit.<span> </span>Like Washington Park they survived because
gambling brought sufficient paying fans to allow the tracks to turn a profit.<span> </span>Finally, regardless of location, track
personnel needed the protection provided by city governments.<span> </span>While individuals might have been neutral on
racing in and of itself, many objected to the betting, either on or off the
track, which they saw as sinful, and to the people who participated, seen as
immoral and potentially dangerous. This was especially true for those who lived
near the venues who believed the tracks brought unsavory characters who reduced
the property values and the quality of life for the neighborhood’s residents.<span> </span>All of this was made worse by the reality
that politicians protected the track owners.<span>
</span>In reality, however, for the moral police, prostitution and alcohol use
were far more pressing problems, with gambling on the ponies coming in a
distant third.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span>On
the other side, track owners often kept admission prices low to attract
spectators, encouraging families to come for an inexpensive outing.<span> </span>The tracks did stimulate the economy as
people would spend money on ancillary activities and items.<span> </span>For example, in 1902 horse racing added
perhaps $900,000 to Chicago’s revenue.<span>
</span>Western Union benefitted financially by providing the wire services for
off track betting.<span> </span>Public transit
benefited by taking spectators to and from the tracks.<span> </span>Yet despite political protection, the
opponents were able to reduce the number of tracks significantly, though
ultimately the sport, the tracks and the gambling continued.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span>The
list of people involved with racing is close to endless, some well-known while
other names are more anonymous.<span>
</span>Financier August Belmont, politicos Carter Harrison, father and son,
John Peter Altgeld, machine politicians Mike “Hinky Dink” Kenna, “Bathhouse”
John Couglin, “Blind John” Condon and “Big Ed” Corrigan, gamblers and race
track owners—are richly described and integrated with Chicago life, racing and
politics.<span> </span><i><span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span><span> </span>Like
its predecessor, <i>Horse Racing in Chicago</i> Is an encyclopedic work that
will be enjoyed by any and all who have an interest in horse racing, Chicago
history, and the biographies of the colorful characters involved in either
furthering or lessening its impact on society.<span></span></p>
</div><div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past<br><br>Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.<br>Professor of History<br>Book Review Editor<br><i>AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature</i><br>Ashland University<br>Ashland, OH 44805<br>USA<br></div></div></div></div>