The Sport of Kings

My brother introduced me to horse racing at a young age. We were renting a cottage at the Jersey shore and he invited me to attend the races at Delaware Park. If you ever want to see human nature in the raw just go down to the rail with the two dollar bettors and observe and listen. After due diligence with the Racing Form he proceeded to hit a four horse parlay - i.e. four straight winners multiplied. After taking care of the tax man he netted several thousand dollars and since it was a weekend he stashed his cache under the mattress. My mother, making the beds the next day, almost had a heart attack. He had a dream of owning a horse and dragged me over to Marlton N.J. to a horse farm to look at a son of COALTOWN.
COALTOWN was a relative of the great CITATION he of Calumet Farms - but the "son" had a bad knee.
 I told my brother to lie down until the fever passes and we got out of there with our wallets intact. We once attended a yearling sale at Garden State Park in N.J. The young colts and fillies each have a number pasted on their hind quarters - called a "hip" number to coordinate with the program that outlines their breeding - sire -dam -sire of the dam - breeder - owner etc. - it is a very heady atmosphere - klieg lights - a walking ring behind the red velvet ropes - and the auctioneer in a tuxedo. If you even scratched your ear you could own a thoroughbred. I made sure to keep my hands in my pockets.
The popularity of the sport has waned with the advent of casinos and betting parlors. And many of the wealthy families - Phipps - Whitneys - Vanderbilts - have left the scene. These folks were the backbone of the Jockey Club. As owners they were also breeders and they had their colorful silks on the jockeys. And their social scene would peak in August at Saratoga. Alfred G. Vanderbilt had a unique way of naming his horses. Once he bred a stallion POLYNESIAN to a mare GEISHA and the resulting colt was the great NATIVE DANCER nicknamed The Gray Ghost of Sagamore Farms. And now you know more than you ever wanted to know about this subject.
tjs
Next - Numbers, please?