Book review: "Horse Racing -- The golden age of the track" · 4.12.08
This is a collection of photographs taken from the 1930s to the 1950s by noted society photographer Bert Morgan. In following the “jet set” to the track Morgan gradually became interested in racing itself, and in fact became an official track photographer in New York in 1940.
The images in Horse Racing — The golden age of the track are mostly from New York tracks, with some from Churchill Downs and Hialeah. It’s interesting seeing old Jamaica Racetrack packed to the rafters on opening day in 1943, a sea of humanity — or rather a sea of hats, the crowd being overwhelmingly male, and most men in those days wore hats in public. Aqueduct looks overwhelmingly ordinary, even dumpy — by contrast, Belmont Park seems to ooze class from every brick and blade of grass.
The people:
- Bing Crosby looking dapper as always;
- Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower consulting a racing programme — “Ike” seemingly looking for a hot tip, and Mamie isn’t talking;
- ten-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier (Kennedy) (Onassis) posing on a fence at Belmont, skinned knees and all.
The horses:
- Citation as a two-year-old, ridden by the ill-fated Al Snider;
- Man o’ War posing with groom Will Harbut;
- the finish of the 1957 Wood Memorial, with Gallant Man and Bold Ruler in a photo finish;
- the 1943 Roseben Handicap at Belmont, a unique view of the old Widener diagonal sprint course;
- a head-on shot of Native Dancer and Tom Fool racing neck-and-neck — wait a minute, those two never raced each other — ah-ha, look for the smudged line down the middle that shows the photo was doctored — the 1950s equivalent of Photoshopping Curlin and Big Brown together.
Horse Racing — The golden age of the track was originally published in 2001. If you can find it at your favourite used book store — or at Left Coast Racing’s Amazon.com bookstore, hint, hint — it’s worth picking up.
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What do you think?
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Great book: picked it up as a liquidation sale item in Coquitlam.
Don’t forget the triple dead heat in the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct.
— Dr. Timothy Yatcak · Dec 4, 02:01 PM · #