The Bay Ridge Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run from 1901 through 1910 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. A race for horses age three and older of either sex, it was run on dirt over a distance of a mile and a quarter until 1910 when it was reduced to a mile and a sixteenth.

Bay Ridge Handicap
Discontinued stakes race
LocationSheepshead Bay Race Track
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, United States
Inaugurated1887–1910
Race typeThoroughbredFlat racing
Race information
Distance1 1/16 miles: 1910
1 1/4 miles: 1901–1909
SurfaceDirt
Trackleft-handed
QualificationThree years old & up

The end of a race and of a racetrack

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The Bay Ridge Handicap was last run on June 18, 1910 after the Republican-controlled New York Legislature under Governor Charles Evans Hughes passed the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation on June 11, 1908. The owners of Sheepshead Bay Race Track, and other racing facilities in New York State, struggled to stay in business without betting.[1] Racetrack operators had no choice but to drastically reduce the purse money being paid out which resulted in the Bay Ridge Handicap offering a purse in 1910 that was one-fifth of what it had been in earlier years. These small purses made horse racing unprofitable and impossible for even the most successful horse owners to continue in business.[2] Further restrictive legislation was passed by the New York Legislature in 1910 which resulted in the deepening of the financial crisis for track operators and led to a complete shut down of racing across the state during 1911 and 1912. When a Court ruling saw racing return in 1913 it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay facility and it never reopened.[3][4]

Records

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Speed record:

  • 1 ¼ miles: 2:04.40 – Effendi (1909)

Most wins by a jockey:

Most wins by a trainer:

  • no trainer won this race more than once

Most wins by an owner:

  • 2 – no owner won this race more than once

Winners

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Year
Winner
Age
Jockey
Trainer
Owner
Dist.
(Miles)
Time
Win$
1910 Hampton Court 3 Carroll H. Shilling Sam Hildreth Sam Hildreth 1116 M 1:54.40 $580
1909 Effendi 3 William F. Doyle Frank C. Frisbie W. T. Ryan 114 M 2:04.40 $485
1908 Old Honesty 4 Joe Notter Andrew J. Gorey Andrew J. Gorey 114 M 2:06.20 $510
1907 Gallavant 4 Guy Garner T. J. Healey Richard T. Wilson Jr. 114 M 2:07.00 $3,025
1906 Ram's Horn 4 Willie Shaw W. S. (Wink) Williams W. S. (Wink) Williams 114 M 2:05.60 $3,225
1905 Cairngorm 3 Willie Davis A. Jack Joyner Sydney Paget 114 M 2:08.20 $3,150
1904 Proper 4 Gene Hildebrand Walter B. Jennings Walter B. Jennings 114 M 2:06.20 $3,250
1903 Blues 5 John J. Hoar Frank D. Weir Frank J. Farrell 114 M 2:10.20 $1,630
1902 Advance Guard 5 Otto Wonderly Alexander Shields James Carruthers & Alexander Shields 114 M 2:07.20 $1,080
1901 Kamara 4 Willie Shaw Charles F. Hill Clarence H. Mackay 114 M 2:06.40 $1,085

References

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  1. ^ "Keep Up Betting Ban". New York Times. 1908-09-01. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
  2. ^ "Coney Island Clubs Sturdy Stand". Daily Racing Form. 1908-08-11. Retrieved 2019-02-03 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  3. ^ "Destruction Wrought by Hughes". Daily Racing Form. 1908-12-15. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  4. ^ "Famous Old Track is Sold". Daily Racing Form. 1914-11-17. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.