Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-06-08
FIFTY YEARS ON THE TURF
Jake SOmerindykO on the Race
Between Eclipse and Henry.
How Sam Purdy Landed Eclipse I'm.
der the Wire . Winner Fifty
Five Years AgO-A Prize
Fight on the Old
Union Course.
New York Star, june 81

ANN" ANAh bNeAt =" uiO 81
"Why, God bless you, my boy, l
can remember the old Union race
track as far back as 1921" said the
old veteran turfman, Jake Somer-
indyke, to the writer last evening.
1t were the finest track in the
country in those days. John j.
Snedicor owned it then. l believe
his father built the railing round it
about 1907, If remember correct
ly, 1t were out, you know, on the
old Jamaica turnpike, about nine
miles out Of Brooklyn. 1t were a
grand looking affair from the out.
side; it had a wall Of boards and
posts stuck up endwise around it,
all covered with pitch, SO that the
boys couldn't climb on the top to
see the races. The entrance was
the incest looking part OF it.
Young John Snedicer kept sport
ing house on the lane that led to
the entrance-a regular old.fash-
ioned concern, about two stories
high-a kind of farmhouse. |
recollect this place distinctly, cause
one night, in the early part of May,
me and old Isaiah Rynders had
fight in the bar-room with a gang
of Brooklyn heelers on account Of
me calling a fellow with scalloped
hair a bricktop. Bill Shaw and Ez
White run the track after John j.
Snedicor died, until Ez threw up
the sponge, and then Bill Shaw run
it altogether. lie owns it now, !
believe"
"Did you see that race between
Eclipse and Henry?" asked the re-
porter.
were on a Friday afternoon, the
20th of May, 1928. l were a
shaver then, about eight years old.
That's how l remember the old
track fence so well. / had no gold
dollar opay to go inside, and clim
up on the fence, near old julie
Vests house, and got all tar.
Lord, didn't | get walloped that
night when / got home There
were plenty of fun on the old track
in those days; there were no police
and no excise law, and the boys
used to have big white tents all
over the grounds, to play sweat,
three-card monte and roulette. For
three cents you could 60 in one of
these tents and get a good square
drink of the old stuff"
81 would like description of
the race, Uncle Jake?"
"'Well, it were the biggest race /
ever looked at, and l guess that
were ever run upon that track.
American Eclipse, as she were
called, was a sorrel horse foaled on
Long Island on the 25th of May
1914. He was sired by Duroc, and
his dam was Miller's Damsel. He.
had scooped in everything for some
time. am not positive who owned
him; l think it were General Coles;
anyhow his owner offered to back
him for $4,000 against any horse
in the world, at any distance. Col
onel Johnstone covered his money.
and brought the four.miler Henry.
from Virginia to run a race of four
mile heats, best two out of three,
on the Union track. The race, as
told you before, took place on a
Friday afternoon, OH the old track,
and it were just lined with people.
Well, sir, you may think I'm joking,
but I'll be gosh darned if there
warn't 10000 people there to see
that race. Well Henry won the
first heat, nearly shutting Eclipse
out, IN I'M, 32s. This made the
boys feel blue. They all had their
stuff up on old Eclipse. Yes, I'll
bet they even had their shirts mort
gagged and the money planked up,
The niger that rode our horse was
N. G. The BOYS felt sure he had
sold us out, and run him off the
track. Then they didn't know what
to do, and while Bill Shaw was
looking around for somebody to
ride him, he spied Sam Purdy
Standing up near Eclipse's stable.
/ had got down from my roosting
place, and was standing close by