124 THE HOUSE OF AMERICA. 



eighty years, with occasional intervals, when the gamblers made 

 it so nasty that no decent people would go near it. 



The first subscription plate race of which we have any trace is 

 to be found in the New York Gazette, of September 27, 1736, of 

 which the advertisement is given below. The course indicated 

 is believed to have been on the Church Farm, west of Broadway, 

 and not far from where the Astor House now stands. There 

 is no account of what horses won, and all we know is just what is 

 in the advertisement. 



"On Wednesday, the 13th of October next, will be run for, on the course 

 at New York, a plate of twenty pounds' value, by any horse, mare or gelding, 

 earring ten stone (saddle and bridle included), the best of three heats, two 

 rniles each heat. Horses intended to run for the plate are to be entered the 

 day before the race, with Francis Child, on Fresh Water Hill, paying a half 

 pistole each, or at the post on the day of running, paying a pistole. And the 

 next day being the 14th, will be run for, on the same course, by all or any of 

 the horses that started for the twenty-pound plate (the winning horse excepted) 

 the entrance money, on the conditions above. Proper judges will be named 

 to determine any disputes that may arise. All persons on horseback or in 

 chairs, coming into the field (the subscribers and winning horse only excepted) 

 are to pay sixpence each to the owner of the grounds." 



Passing on to 1747 we find a duplication of the foregoing for 

 the plate race of that year, with some variations. Entries are 

 restricted to animals that never won a plate before "on this 

 island," and a horse named Parrot is not permitted to compete. 

 This race was advertised to take place on the Church Farm. 

 The next that I will notice is the advertisement of this same 

 stake for 1751, when the weight was reduced to eight stone, and 

 in addition to the usual exclusion of previous winners, we have 

 for the first time a restriction of the entries to animals "bred in 

 America.'' 7 At the May meeting at Hempstead Plains, the year 

 following, 1752, the entries are again restricted to animals "bred 

 in America." From this, then, we are able to fix the precise period 

 when English Race Horses were first brought to this colony. At 

 this time there were two or three other courses on Manhattan 

 Island, besides several noted speeding grounds on the roads and 

 elsewhere, for the trotters and the pacers, of which no advertise- 

 ments appear, and consequently no notice was taken by the news- 

 paper press. 



From about 1760 up to the time when the Revolutionary strug- 

 gle began to engross and absorb all thought and all action, racing 



