Saratoga Cup

In 1963, track owner/operator New York Racing Association held a one-time only commemorative event they called "The seventy-sixth running Saratoga Cup 'The Centennial Season Running.'" It was run at a distance of 1 5/8 miles and was won by Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr.'s three-year-old gelding, Will I Rule.{{cite book |last=Carter & Kane |first=Allan & Mike |title=150 Years of Racing in Saratoga|publisher=The History Press |date=2013-06-14 |page=114 |isbn=9781625845559 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADPeCAAAQBAJ&q=%22Saratoga+Cup%22%2C+%22150+Years+of+Racing+in+Saratoga%22&pg=PT122}}

During his Hall of Fame career James E. "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons won numerous top races more than five times each including the Belmont Stakes. With ten wins, the Saratoga Cup was most and the race was also among his most memorable as the 1914 edition marked his first important major race win as a trainer.{{cite web|url=https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/james-e-fitzsimmons |title=James E. Fitzsimmons |publisher=Racingmuseum.org |date=2019-10-22 |accessdate=2019-10-22}}

Exterminator, the 1918 Kentucky Derby winner and a U. S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, won this race four years in row from 1919 to 1922. In his 1920 win, Exterminator set a world record of 2:56 4/5 for {{frac|1|3|4}} miles on dirt.{{cite web|url=https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/exterminator |title=Exterminator |publisher=Racingmuseum.org |date=1942-06-27 |accessdate=2019-10-27}} Exterminator's owner Willis Sharpe Kilmer was a notoriously difficult employer and for each of the four wins, Exterminator had a different jockey and a different trainer.

In 1875 a very rare event in horse racing occurred when Preakness and Springbok together set a new American record for the 2 1/4 mile distance in winning the Saratoga Cup in a dead heat.{{cite book |last=Robertson |first=William H. P. |title=The History of Thoroughbred Racing In America |publisher=Prentice Hall |date=1964-01-01 |page=228 |url=https://exploreuk.uky.edu/fa/findingaid/?id=xt7vx05x9g3}}

There were three walkovers in the 75-year history of the Saratoga Cup. Long-distance races were declining in popularity and by the 1920s the number of entrants was regularly only four or five horses. As such, the first walkover came in 1921 when Exterminator's dominance in racing scared away the competition.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1921/09/01/archives/morvich-triumphs-in-hopeful-stakes-unbeaten-colt-easily-wins-the.html |title=Saratoga Cup A Walkover |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1921-09-01 |accessdate=2019-10-27}} The second occurred in 1940 and was unique in that it involved two horses, Isolater and Fenelon. Both horses were owned by the powerful Belair Sud Stable who declared Isolater to win.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/09/01/archives/whirlaway-victor-in-hopeful-stakes-as-spa-meet-ends-runs-through.html |title=Belair Pair In Walkover |work=New York Times|at=Section 5 Sports, page 1 |date=1940-09-01 |accessdate=2019-10-27}} The third time there was a walkover happened in 1946 with Ethel Jacob's Stymie. The future U. S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee had won the 1945 edition of the Saratoga Cup with ease in a year when it was held at Belmont Park.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/08/26/archives/stymie-34-takes-65th-saratoga-cup-easily-at-belmont-39977-see.html |title=Stymie, 3-4, Takes 65th Saratoga Cup Easily at Belmont |work=New York Times|at=Sports Section 5, page 9 |date=1945-08-26 |accessdate=2019-10-27}} Stymie's continued dominance in racing saw his competition avoiding him in the race's return to Saratoga in 1946.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/09/01/archives/blue-border-ties-track-mark-to-win-hopeful-by-a-nose-winning-the.html |title=Blue Border Ties Track Mark to Win Hopeful By A Nose |work=New York Times|at=Section Sports, page 70 |date=1946-09-01 |accessdate=2019-10-27}}

On June 11, 1908, the Republican controlled New York Legislature under Governor Charles Evans Hughes passed the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1908011801/drf1908011801_1_7 |title=Penalties in the New York Bills |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1908-01-18|accessdate=2018-10-26}} The owners of Saratoga Race Course, and other racing facilities in New York State, struggled to stay in business without income from betting.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/09/01/archives/keep-up-betting-ban-strict-enforcement-of-the-law-at-sheepshead-bay.html |title=Keep Up Betting Ban |work=New York Times |date=1908-09-01 |accessdate=2018-11-06}} In spite of strong opposition by prominent owners such as August Belmont Jr. and Harry Payne Whitney, reform legislators were not happy when they learned that betting was still going on at racetracks between individuals and they had further restrictive legislation passed by the New York Legislature in 1910.{{cite web|url=https://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/the-first-american-triple-crown-series/|title=The First American Triple Crown Series|first=Bennett|last=Liebman|date=May 24, 2009|website=The Rail|access-date=September 2, 2017}} The Agnew–Perkins Law, a series of four bills and recorded as the Executive Liability Act, made it possible for racetrack owners and members of its board of directors to be fined and imprisoned if anyone was found betting, even privately, anywhere on their premises.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/04/07/archives/racing-men-attack-antibetting-bills-place-every-man-who-makes.html |title=Racing Men Attack Anti-Betting Bills – Place Every Man Who Makes Private Wager in Jeopardy |work=New York Times |date=1910-04-07 |accessdate=2019-06-29}} After a 1911 amendment to the law that would limit the liability of owners and directors was defeated in the Legislature, every racetrack in New York State shut down.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/07/14/archives/race-track-bill-defeated-in-senate-measure-modifying-directors.html|title=Race Track Bill Defeated In Senate; Measure Modifying Directors' Liability for Gambling Fails of Passage.|work=The New York Times|date=July 14, 1911|publisher=|access-date=September 2, 2017}} As a result, the Saratoga Cup was not run in 1911 and 1912.

A February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division saw horse racing return in 1913.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1913022201/drf1913022201_1_9 |title= Oral Betting Held Legal: Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court Renders Important Decision |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1913-02-22 |accessdate=2019-06-29}} However, it was too late for some racing facilities and financial difficulties meant that Brighton Beach Race Course, Gravesend Race Track and Sheepshead Bay Race Track never reopened.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1908121501/drf1908121501_1_7|title=Destruction Wrought by Hughes |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1908-12-15|accessdate=2018-11-30}}

Speed record:

• 1 {{frac|3|4}} miles – 2:55 flat : Reigh Count (1928)
• 2 {{frac|1|4}} miles – 3:56 {{frac|1|4}} : Preakness & Springbok (1875) Dead heat

Most wins:

• Exterminator (1919, 1920, 1921, 1922)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 3 – James Butwell (1909, 1915, 1917)
• 3 – James Stout (1936, 1939, 1940)

Most wins by a trainer:

• 10 – James E. Fitzsimmons (1914, 1929, 1930, 1934, 1936, 1939, 1940, 1951, 1952, 1954)

Most wins by an owner:

• 4 – David McDaniel (1872, 1873, 1874, 1875)
• 4 – Willis Sharpe Kilmer (1919, 1920, 1921, 1922)

{{reflist}}

Category:Open long distance horse races

Category:Discontinued horse races in New York (state)

Category:Saratoga Race Course

Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1865

Category:Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1955

Category:1865 establishments in New York (state)

Category:1955 disestablishments in New York (state)