LCV Winter 2013-14 - (Page 66)

PORTER'S SPIRIT OF THE TIMES, 1874, REPRINTED IN THE NEW YORK CLIPPER, 1881 The Fair Grounds, shown here in 1874, is the third oldest thoroughbred racetrack in America behind Saratoga and Pimlico. It has been in continuous operation since 1867. he Metairie Course was the site of three celebrated races between two of the most popular thoroughbreds of the mid-19th century, the Kentucky-bred Lexington and the Louisiana-bred Lecomte. The races-two in 1854 and a third in 1855-helped to establish New Orleans as the racing capital of the country in the years preceding the Civil War. The first meeting was on April 1, 1854, in the Great Post Stakes, the richest and most acclaimed race of its time. The event was meant to attract the top thoroughbred from every state where horse racing was popular, but the steep entry fee of $5,000 (approximately $135,000 today) limited the field to only four horses. Lexington represented Kentucky in the race, Arrow raced for Louisiana, and Highlander was Alabama's entrant. Lecomte was renowned as a Louisiana horse, owned by Rapides Parish breeder Thomas Jefferson Wells, a participant in Jim Bowie's famous Sandbar Fight and brother of future governor James Madison Wells; curiously, though, it was entered as a Mississippi horse for the Great Post Stakes. Lexington, Lecomte and Arrow were half-brothers, all sired by the famed stallion Boston. The race was set to be the best two out of three heats, each covering a four-mile distance on dirt. The event drew a capacity crowd in excess of 20,000, which included former President Millard Fillmore. The Daily Picayune reported that New Orleans "looked as though it had been shut down" that Saturday afternoon as everyone headed to the racetrack. Lexington outran the field in the first heat on a muddy track, winning in eight minutes, eight and threequarters seconds with Lecomte in second place by three lengths. The second heat was a repeat of the first, with Lexington beating Lecomte by four lengths in eight minutes, four seconds. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, whole boatloads of cotton and a fair number of mules changed hands on the results. The horses had not even returned to their stalls when Wells called for a rematch. On April 8, Lexington and Lecomte met again on the Metairie Course, but this time Lecomte took the first heat in a blazing seven minutes, 26 seconds, breaking Fashion's previous American record set in Long Island in 1845. Lecomte T 66 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES * Winter 2013-14

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LCV Winter 2013-14

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