The Lock Haven Legend

           Recently, we wrote about a racetrack in New Jersey that has faded into the mists of time – little-known Guttenberg, which was located in urban North Bergen, in Hudson County.

         See the blog post here: http://www.pathoroughbred.blogspot.com/2012/11/remembering-gut.html

          Today, we’ll take a look at a track in Pennsylvania that is as equally as obscure as Guttenberg. It’s the long-gone harness oval Lock Haven, which vanished off the map in 1919, nearly 100 years ago.           
           The city of Lock Haven is located on the banks of the Susquehanna River, in largely rural Clinton County. It was originally known for its thriving lumber industry.  
            It was around 1900 that the Lock Haven Race Track was built near the Susquehanna, and was immediately popular. According to the article, “Tracking history: When horse racing came to the Haven,” published in The Express newspaper on December 4, 2010, “hundreds flocked to the location on a regular basis to watch, cheer and bet on their favorite steeds in the days when horse racing had a home in Lock Haven.”
           “Everything in the shape of a fine looking horse, sporty looking men, men who like sports and a goodly number of ladies wended their way to the driving park Saturday to witness the initial races of the season,” reported the Clinton County Times in its May 8, 1903 issue. “The interest centered on Orange Chief and Joe Wilkes who were matched for a purse of $175.”
           “Horsemen tell us that Lock Haven now has more good races than any town in the state of Pennsylvania,” the Clinton County Times reported in October of 1903. “Some of these horses have won national fame during the season, while others have won first and second money at every entrance.”
           At a time when horse racing was being shut down in many parts of the country due to gambling and corruption concerns, the sport continued to flourish at Lock Haven. In 1911, The Express reported that more than 500 people attended the races on a June day of that year, where the top event involved George Harvey’s “Wahee Boy” and John Pfenninger's “Bud O’Real.”
           But all good things eventually come to an end, and the demise of Lock Haven came at the end of World War I. The land upon which it stood was owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad, which sold it to a silk manufacturer in 1919. The Madison Textile Company erected a silk mill on the site, and then in 1936 it was sold to the Piper Aircraft Corporation, which became a major employer in Lock Haven with its production of small planes.
           Today, the William T. Piper Memorial Airport occupies the land, as well as the Piper Aviation Museum. The sound of plane engines now drowns out those long-ago echoes of hoofbeats and the roar of the crowd.

 

 

The William T. Piper Memorial Airport, formerly the site of the Lock Haven Race Track. The large structure in the lower right hand corner of frame is the old Piper factory, converted from a silk mill that already existed on the site, and thought to be where the grandstand once stood. 

 

 

 

 

Remembering "The Gut"

            This past year, I decided to tackle a project that I’d put on the backburner for quite some time – researching my family tree. Since my ancestors on both my maternal and paternal sides immigrated from Poland to Bayonne, N. J. around 1900, I hit the proverbial brick wall when I attempted to uncover more information before that date, due to the way surnames were misspelled upon their arrival at Ellis Island.

            To help me in my research, I became a member of the Hudson County Genealogical & Historical Society, which contains a treasure trove of information. Imagine my surprise when I opened up my first issue of its newsletter, Hudson Roots, and saw this headline: “…And they’re off!”
            Yes, the top story for that issue was about a racetrack – the now-defunct, and little-known, Guttenberg Race Track in North Bergen, N. J. While this blog is entitled “Pennsylvania Thoroughbred,” I have always found the history of New Jersey and its racing as equally as interesting, and so thought this was a good topic.
            According to the article, written by HCGS member Damian DeVirgilio, in August of 1885 the Hudson County Jockey Club, later to be known as the Guttenberg Race Track, opened in an area bounded by Kennedy Boulevard (then Hudson County Boulevard) and Bergenline Avenue, roughly facing the land which is now James J. Braddock Park.
            You can see the map of the area today here: http://mapq.st/Wufwjb
            Guttenberg was run by Gottfried Walbaum, also known as “Dutch Fred,” who partnered with Hudson County Clerk Dennis McLaughlin, John C. Carr and Nicholas Crusius.      
            The horses that competed there, the article states, were the “most miserable hacks ever collected in one place and the scandals connected with their performances made the track a byword. A Guttenberg ‘plug’ became the synonym for all that was wretched and ignoble in horseflesh.”

 

William Glackens’ oil painting “Outside the Guttenberg Race Track” from 1897.

 More from the Hudson Roots article:

            Despite the descent of its owners’ fortunes, the track itself had a lively existence over the next few decades as it passed amongst several owners. In 1897, artist William Glackens immortalized the track in his painting Outside the Guttenberg Race Track. A speeding trolley is seen along the left as a rustic carnival-like scene unfolds. Horse races occasionally still took place but without cash prices and never on the previous scale. With the passage of time, the track came to be used for a variety of purposes, such as baseball games and pigeon shooting contests. The advent of the twentieth century also brought early automobile races. Rumors of land development also began to surface. When the land passed into the hands of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Newark, an orphanage run by the Sisters of Peace was proposed in 1905. However, formal development was not to come for over a decade.

            The site was also used by those seeking a bit of immortality, but some were more successful than others. For instance, Maxey Long set a world record for the 440 yard sprint at 47 seconds on the track on Oct. 6, 1900, a record which stood for almost 16 years. Sadly, aspiring Belgian aviator Charles Frank Morok didn’t fare as well. “Diavolo” as he called himself, used the track to launch his attempt to be the first to fly across the icy Hudson River into Manhattan on Dec. 26, 1910. Unfortunately, moments after takeoff, his plane crashed into the second story of a house several blocks south, disturbing a young woman’s private bathroom time.

             In 1907, a large band of “gypsies” decided to camp on the track grounds, creating quite a stir among local officials and residents. The gypsies descended upon the streets of the surrounding towns, invading the stores and saloons, and driving the women and children into their homes.  Despite the uproar, it seems that the camp remained for several years, at least on a seasonal basis.

And finally:

            The track’s old grandstand burned down during January of 1910 in a blaze that could be seen all the way in Manhattan, but the track’s ultimate end came in 1919 when the land was formally divided into lots for auction. The track’s memory remains alive amongst some horse racing historians. However, the track’s tale is lost to the average local. As Hudson County continues to evolve, The Gut’s story reminds us that the community had been reshaping itself continuously, long before today’s modern development plans. The challenge will be to ensure that our roots and the complex stages of our growth do not dissolve into fading whispers.

If you’d like to read another well-researched article about the Guttenberg Racetrack, check out this one from “Colin’s Ghost,” which is written by Kevin Martin:

http://colinsghost.org/2010/01/winter-racing-at-new-jerseys-guttenberg-race-track-1885-1893.html

 

Back in the saddle ... and an eye to the sky

            It’s been a while since my last blog post, but I’ve been pretty busy tending to my husband, who has been seriously ill. He spent a lot of time at the University of Pennsylvania in Center City, Philadelphia, which most of us horse lovers know also owns and operates the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, an excellent veterinary hospital.

            Episodes like this can really disrupt the normal flow of daily life, and I had to cancel my yearly trip to Saratoga, which I regretted deeply. Hopefully I can make the trek to the Adirondacks next season with my daughters. My betting has also been limited, generally focused on weekend action at Saratoga and the occasional wager at Monmouth Park if there’s a horse running that I like.

            But while the bulk of my time has been spent traveling back and forth to Center City, I have been keeping an eye on what’s been happening in the thoroughbred world. Here are some thoughts and observations as we lurch towards September:

            * Parx Casino saw revenues from table game play decline in July, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said on August 17, as the Bensalem casino’s 182 table games drew in just under $7.9 million last month, down from $9.5 million from 172 tables during the same period last year. But the Gaming Board was quick to point out that this July had only four full weekends of play, the busiest days of the week, while July of 2011 had five.

            There is such an oversaturation of gaming in the Mid-Atlantic region – Atlantic City included – that I’m surprised a decline in revenue, not just limited to table games, hasn’t started sooner. Like Atlantic City, what goes up, must come down, and I predict within five years the Pennsylvania casinos won’t be the cash cows they now are. Thoroughbred racing better focus on promoting the sport and fostering new fans, or else it’s doomed.

            * Speaking of doomed, there was a very interesting interview published in today’s  Harness Racing Update with new Meadowlands Racetrack owner Jeff Gural.

            Gural was refreshingly frank and straightforward when asked whether business at the East Rutherford oval was up or down for the year, and his opinion about the state of harness racing, in general.

            “To tell you the truth, I think the industry is headed for disaster,” said Gural. “Maybe the goal is to get the most money you can before the whole things collapses and disappears. I know that I have to make changes and I have to hope that some people will be willing to help us.”

            Oh, how I wish all racetrack operators would stop speaking in forked tongues and tell the truth, as Gural did. How about the powers that be at Pennsylvania tracks coming out and saying what they really think about thoroughbred racing?

            You can read Gural’s entire interview at www.harnessracingupdate.com, which I highly recommend.

            * A life-threatening incident like that which has befallen my husband has a way of really putting things in perspective. One of my other passions, aside from thoroughbred racing, has always been birds, and bird watching. To me, there is something extremely interesting and exciting in seeing the many, many different species of birds that live year-round and pass through the Pennsylvania-New Jersey region, and unfortunately I have not always given that passion the time it deserves, for one reason or another.

            But going forward, I intend to give birding as much attention as I do racing. To that end, next Saturday I will be taking a trip to Sandy Hook in New Jersey for an early morning birding trip to see fall migrating shorebirds … and on the way home stop at nearby Monmouth Park in time to catch the bulk of the card.  Who says you can’t have your cake, and eat it, too?

           Good racing … and good birding!

All in the family

           To those involved in thoroughbred racing, whether as an owner, trainer, groom, exercise rider or hotwalker, life on the backstretch can often seem like living with one big family.
           As in any family, relationships aren’t often perfect, but they are strong and lasting, through the good times and the bad.
           I have come to realize the power of a racetrack community this past week, as my husband Dennis is facing a serious health crisis.
           A 31-year veteran of the Parx Racing backside, Dennis’s life has revolved around horses and the people that work with them, and he has never had a desire to leave the racetrack since he first arrived so long ago.
           When I first met him in 1993, he was living in a dormitory room and had a pet goat named Happy, a gargantuan animal who once suffered a broken leg after being kicked by a horse at Penn National, and was sent by Dennis to the New Bolton Center of the University of Pennsylvania for treatment. Dennis would “walk” Happy every night around the perimeter of the racetrack, and Happy would follow him like a dog.
           Although many people wondered why we were together, since I was a college graduate and he was a high school dropout doing a labor-intensive job grooming thoroughbreds, I always knew it was the strong interest we both had in the sport that brought and kept us together. We were even married by Chaplain Nicholas Salios on the Parx Racing backstretch in 1994. Nearly 20 years later, we have two daughters, ages 17 and 14, both of whom love racing.
           Now that Dennis has been hospitalized, there has been an outpouring of care and concern from his racetrack brethren, with many going to visit him or calling to see how he’s doing.
           It’s a great family to have, and we are both deeply appreciative of them all.  

Dennis, Happy the Goat, and Blazing Sally, his horse, circa 1987.

* * * *

           I have to admit that I’m feeling a little bit disappointed that Rachel Alexandra, the famous filly, didn’t pick my name out of her feedtub as the winner of the “Name Rachel’s Foal” contest held by her owner, Stonestreet Stable, on July 27.  I was one of the many people who suggested the name “Jess’s Dream” for her colt by Curlin.

           While I am a bit peeved at Rachel, I am delighted that Jess’s Dream was selected for her colt. As has been written many times, it was the dream of her late owner, Jess Jackson, that his two prize thoroughbreds, Rachel and Curlin, be mated.
           Actually, I was kind of hoping that the Stonestreet folks would’ve chosen “Wild Taco” for his name, and from whence his nickname “Taco” derived. I thought “Wild Taco” was pretty funny, and so did they. He just looks like a “Taco” to me.

A bit of Pennsylvania at the Spa

The first day of the much-anticipated Saratoga Race Course meet is in the books, and it was great to see a Pennsylvania-bred filly capture the marquee race on the opening card.

So Many Ways, bred in the Keystone State by John R. Penn and John C. Penn, rolled to 1-1/2 length victory in the Gr. 3 Schuylerville Stakes for 2-year-old fillies today, covering the six furlongs in 1:11.51 for trainer Tony Dutrow.

A daughter of young sire Sightseeing, So Many Ways broke her maiden at Parx on June 9, a race I was fortunate enough to see in person. Normally, horses that break their maidens at the Bensalem oval don't usually move onward and upward at venues like Saratoga, but So Many Ways isn't your typical Parx graduate, nor is Dutrow your typical Parx trainer.

So Many Ways is owned by Maggi Moss, and hopefully we will see her at Saratoga again before the meet ends.

* * * *

Champion Royal Delta headlines the prestigious $750,000 Delaware Handicap (Gr. 2) at Delaware Park tomorrow, and this should be an interesting renewal of the Stanton oval's keystone event. Looking to give Royal Delta a run for the money are Awesome Maria, Cash for Clunkers, and Love and Pride, as well as three others, and the 1-1/4 mile test goes off at approximately 5:45 p.m. If you're in the area, stop by the beautiful Stanton racetrack to see these fine fillies and mares.





Racing's guardian angel

            I have been extremely fortunate - no, honored - over the last two years to know a woman named Deborah Jones, although I have never met her in person.
           Jones is a selfless and tireless advocate for horses of all breeds, but thoroughbreds in particular. British-born, but California-based, Jones has an amazing reach across every state in the country, and has helped rescue hundreds, if not thousands, of horses through her network of volunteers and sources.
           Many are plucked from the clutches of kill buyers, and several have even been sent back from the slaughterhouse doorstep. Others have been saved from starvation, or from bad situations at racetracks.
           I had frequent communication with Jones while doing a story about the horrific situation at Star Barn Thoroughbreds in Grantville, Pa. She was trying to help the many broodmares, horses of racing age, yearlings and weanlings that were either being sold to kill buyers or left in poor physical condition.

One of the neglected, in-foal mares at Star Barn.

           Star Barn had advertised for mares for a “pasture breeding experiment” to be funded by an agricultural grant, but after its horse population soared and the money dried up, it started to dump horses at auction. Jones was made aware of the situation and was able to intervene and save a large amount, but for some it was too late, including the farm's teaser stallion.
            The Star Barn debacle was only one of many where Jones stepped in to protect defenseless equines. I am absolutely amazed at how she is able to do it all, and she readily admits that she often doesn’t get more than four hours of sleep each night. Suffice it to say if there’s a happy ending to be found, Jones is likely to have been involved.
            To read a link about Jones’s latest success on The Paulick Report, please click here: http://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s-paddock/prominent-racing-family-s-mares-rescued-from-texas-slaughter-auction/

An attitude adjustment

            Way back in the early 1990’s, I used to cover a large chunk of the Saratoga meet each season for The Trentonian newspaper in Trenton, N. J.

            I came to dread the yearly trek up to the Adirondacks. My nightly stipend for a hotel was $60, forcing me miles out of town to the dreariest of dumps. There was no “up front” expense money, so to make my meager paycheck stretch, as well as my already overburdened credit card, I was compelled to find the cheapest pizza joints for my dinner.

            Aside from the major stakes races, I had to cover the annual Fasig-Tipton select yearling sale, but under the crudest of circumstances. The motel I stayed at each year was a good fit for my pocketbook, but didn’t have a phone jack that I could plug my laptop into (remember, this was way before the wireless revolution).

            I would have to write my story and then schlep the laptop to the motel office, where the only phone jack was located. Oftentimes the connection wasn’t made, and I’d have to try again and again. This was often right up against the midnight deadline, and the editors weren’t happy about it, and neither was I.

One time, upon failure of the laptop modem to connect, I had to dictate my story to a part-timer on the sports desk, who dutifully typed it into the system, but the story went to press replete with misspelled horse names.

            In short, the “August place to be” turned into the “unhappiest place for me.”  Upon the paper pulling the plug on the Saratoga trips in 2003 because of budgetary woes, I vowed only to watch and wager on Saratoga from the comfort of my living room.

            But recently, my attitude towards Saratoga Springs has softened. Both of my daughters, who are extremely interested in the sport, asked to spend a few days there in 2010, and so off we went. We had a wonderful time, and I began to see the historic city through a tourist’s eyes, and not through the eyes of someone who was being inconvenienced.

            Last year, we went back during the week of the yearling sale, but met my friend Dawn Newman, who owns Fox Tale Stud in Coopersburg, Pa. I can honestly say that it was the best vacation I’ve ever had – a whirlwind of horses, history, handicapping and yes, meals that were much better than those cut-rate pizzas downed with second-rate beer.

            We’re meeting up again this year, and instead of reluctantly packing my bags, I’m eagerly anticipating seeing the rich and famous at the Fasig-Tipton salesgrounds, and those gorgeous, million-dollar yearlings. The best part of all is that I don’t have to bring my laptop, or write a single story.

            Saratoga, here we come!

            FINISH LINES: I didn’t remember seeing this anywhere on the web, but champion Forever Together, owned during her racing days by the Augustin Stable of George Strawbridge, Jr. and trained by Jonathan Sheppard, had her first foal, a filly by Smart Strike, this spring … Rumors are flying that there may be a change in a key official position at Parx Racing soon … The fickle nature of the racing game can often drain even the most robust of bank accounts, unless one goes into the business with the wherewithal to withstand severe downturns. Recently, we’ve learned of one stallion owner/breeder/stable owner who is experiencing such a turn of fortune, leaving a mountain of unpaid bills. We wish them – and their creditors - the best.