Surf Stakes

The 1880 inaugural edition of the Surf Stakes was won by George Lorillard's filly Spinaway that had the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga Race Course named in her honor.{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-JIAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Foam+Stakes%22%2C+%22Spinaway%22&pg=PA583 |title=The American Turf – Performances For 1880|work= Wallace's Monthly|volume=VI |date=1880-01-01 |accessdate=2019-07-19|last1=Wallace|first1=John Hankins}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/stakes-schedule/spinaway/ |title= Spinaway Stakes |publisher= NYRA |date=1942-06-27 |accessdate=2019-07-19}} Her performances in 1880 led to Spinaway being retrospectively selected by Thoroughbred Heritage as that year's American Champion Two-Year-Old Female.{{cite web|url=http://www.tbheritage.com/TurfHallmarks/Champs/AmChamp2yoFemale.html |title= Turf Hallmarks – Champions of the Turf |work=Thoroughbred Heritage |date=2019-07-19 |accessdate=2019-07-19}}

Tremont, owned by the Dwyer Brothers Stable who notoriously over-raced their horses, came into the June 12, 1886 running having won the Foam Stakes two days earlier. Tremont went on to an undefeated Championship two-year-old campaign in which he won all thirteen of his starts but never raced again.{{cite web|title=HARK'TIS THE TROUBADOUR; WHO TAKES THE GREAT PRIZE OF THE SUBURBAN HANDICAP. THE SURPRISES WHICH MARKED THE OPENING OF THE SEASON AT SHEEPSHEAD.BAY, TO THE LOSS OF THE BOOKMAKERS.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1886/06/11/archives/harktis-the-troubadour-who-takes-the-great-prize-of-the-suburban.html|work=The New York Times|accessdate=26 November 2017|date=11 June 1886}}{{cite web|title=TREMONT SHOWS HIS SUPERIOR QUALITIES.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1886/06/13/archives/marred-by-bad-starting-an-unpleasant-feature-of-the-sheepshead-bay.html|work=The New York Times|accessdate=26 November 2017|date=13 June 1886}}

Owner and trainer Byron McClelland won the 1890 race with Sallie McClelland which he had named for his wife. The filly too would be retrospectively selected by Thoroughbred Heritage as that year's American Champion Two-Year-Old Female.{{cite web|url=http://www.tbheritage.com/TurfHallmarks/Champs/AmChamp2yoFemale.html |title= Turf Hallmarks – Champions of the Turf |publisher=Thoroughbred Heritage |date=2019-07-19 |accessdate=2019-07-19}}

Hastings was a surprise winner of the 1895 edition, beating the heavily favored Handspring by three lengths. A month later, Hastings would be sold at auction to August Belmont Jr. for a then record price of $37,000.

{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/06/27/archives/article-4-no-title.html |title=Hastings A Surprise |newspaper=New York Times |date=1895-06-27 |accessdate=2019-07-02}}{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1895/07/16/archives/a-racing-stable-sold-good-prices-paid-for-the-gideon-daly.html |title= A RACING STABLE SOLD.; Good Prices Paid for the Gideon & Daly Thoroughbreds |newspaper=New York Times |date=1895-07-16 |accessdate=2019-07-02}}

En route to a career that would see his induction into the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame, Peter Pan won the 1906 Surf Stakes.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1906062901/drf1906062901_2_2 |title=Coney Island Form Chart |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1906-06-29|accessdate=2019-07-02}}

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 Sheepshead Bay Race Track, and other racing facilities in New York State, struggled to stay in business without income from betting.{{cite news|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 |newspaper=New York Times |date=1908-09-01 |accessdate=2018-11-06}} Racetrack operators had no choice but to drastically reduce the purse money being paid out which resulted in the Surf Stakes offering a purse in 1909 that was more than ninety percent less than what it had been the previous year. These small purses made horse racing unprofitable and impossible for even the most successful horse owners to continue in business. As such, for the 1910 racing season management of the Sheepshead Bay facility dropped some of its minor stakes races and used the purse money to bolster more most important events such as the Surf Stakes.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1908081101/drf1908081101_1_6 |title=Coney Island Clubs Sturdy Stand |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1908-08-11 |accessdate=2019-02-03}}

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 news|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 |newspaper=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, 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 Surf Stakes was not run in 1911 and 1912.

Owners, whose horses of racing age had nowhere to go, began sending them, their trainers and their jockeys to race in England and France. Many horses ended their racing careers there and a number remained to become an important part of the European horse breeding industry. Thoroughbred Times reported that more than 1,500 American horses were sent overseas between 1908 and 1913 and of them at least 24 were either past, present, or future Champions.{{cite web|url=http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/weekly-feature-articles/2000/February/14/Racing-Through-the-Century-1911-1920.aspx|title=Racing Through the Century|work=Thoroughbred Times|author=|date=February 14, 2000|access-date=September 2, 2017}} When a February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division Court 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 the Sheepshead Bay horse racing facility and it 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}}{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1914111701/drf1914111701_1_2 |title=Famous Old Track is Sold |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1914-11-17|accessdate=2018-11-30}}

Speed record:

• 1:00.40 @ 5 furlongs – Hastings (1895)
• 1:06.80 @ 5.5 furlongs – Mombassa (1907)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 2 – Lloyd Hughes (1880, 1882)
• 2 – Jim McLaughlin (1885, 1886)
• 2 – Spyder Anderson (1889, 1890)
• 2 – Henry Griffin (1894, 1895)
• 2 – Fred Littlefield (1897, 1900)
• 2 – Willie Shaw (1901, 1904)

Most wins by a trainer:

• 5 – James G. Rowe Sr. (1887, 1906, 1908, 1910)

Most wins by an owner:

• 3 – Michael F. Dwyer / Dwyer Brothers Stable (1885, 1886, 1892)
• 3 – Philip J. Dwyer / Dwyer Brothers Stable (1885, 1886, 1893)

{{reflist}}

Category:Flat horse races for two-year-olds

Category:1880 establishments in New York (state)

Category:1910 disestablishments in New York (state)

Category:Discontinued horse races in New York City

Category:Sheepshead Bay Race Track

Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1880

Category:Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1910