13- 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



the track, which in its years of unuse had 

 grown up to grass and the buildings fallen in. 

 Later Mr. Mayberry bought out his three as- 

 sociates and owned the property alone. He 

 employed J. A. Snow, a prominent horseman 

 of those days, as his secretary, and for four 

 years race meetings were given several times 

 each season. 



In 1888 Mr. Mayberry sold the track rb 

 < ). S. Roberts, who gave meetings there in 

 1889, but he rebought it again in 1890, being 

 one of a syndicate of ten Lynn men. Later 

 that year the plant was sold by Mr. Mayberry 

 and associates to George H. Engleman and 

 other owners of the Brighton Beach race 

 course. 



In 1891 James O. Gray, a successful busi- 

 ness man of that period, leased the property 

 from Mr. Engleman and associated himself 

 with W. F. Hitchings, making the latter his 

 secretary, and a very good move it proved. 

 A series of race meetings were given under 

 the administration of these men and with great 

 success, the place jumping into immense popu- 

 larity with the owners and trainers of race 

 horses throughout the Eastern section of this 

 country. In 1895 Mr. Gray bought the prop- 

 erty from Mr. Engleman, but in 1898 it re- 

 verted back again to the Brighton Beach own- 

 ers, and in the meanwhile Mr. Hitchings had 

 taken possession of the property through a 

 lease from the Engleman estate. 



For two seasons, previous to the stopping 

 of speculation at the tracks in Massachusetts, 

 he ran the usual race meetings, but with the 

 stopping of betting on the races, the gates of 

 Saugus were closed, and. while the track is still 

 in existence, very little has been done with it 

 in recent years. A few matinees have been 

 held there and some motor cycle races, and 

 there has been suggested a corporation being 

 formed with the idea in the future of holding 

 annually a big fair. 



Mystic Park was first opened to the pub- 

 lic on June 11, 1866. The starters in the first 

 race ever trotted over this course were India 

 Rubber, Old Put, Honest Kate and John 

 Bartlett. India Rubber won in straight heats ; 

 time 2 133 1-2, 2 :34 1-2, 2 134 1-2. The time of 

 the first heat ever trotted over this popular 

 track (2:t,t, 1-2) was then considered remark- 

 ably fast. Flora Temple then held the cham- 

 pion trotting record of the world, 2:193-4. 



Mystic Park was a fertile farm belonging to 

 George Adams, and during the war the mus- 

 ter grounds for the outgoing soldiers were 

 located there. In 1865 Benjamin S. Wright 

 purchased the farm, built the track and erect- 

 ed the buildings. 



The track was first opened to the public for 

 race meetings by Henry Smith, of Newmar- 

 ket, N. H., and his partner, a Mr. Morrison. 



of Boston, the latter conducting the track hotel. 

 In 1871 the famous minstrel, "Lon" Morris, 

 became manager, and for four or live years 

 conducted race meetings. Then for a short pe- 

 riod Mr. Wright assumed the direction, to be 

 succeeded by a partnership formed between 

 Dr. George H. Bailey and George Brigham. 

 Their management covered that notab'e year 

 of 1874, when Goldsmith Maid electrified the 

 trotting world with a mile in 2:14. J. Tyler 

 Hicks was in control fot two or three years, 

 when the track passed under the management 

 1 >f a company comprised of George Ayer, Eu- 

 gene Ayer. Benjamin Fiske, James Golden and 

 others. 



In 1887 Horace E. 'Willis assumed the 

 management, and that period, extending to 

 1897, when the last races occurred at Mysti'- 

 I'ark, marked an epoch for high-class racing 

 in the annals of the light-harness horse. Mr. 

 Willis gave six meetings a year, including the 

 Breeders', the last meeting of the season oc- 

 curring nut later than October 30. The New 

 England Trotting Horse Breeders' Associa- 

 tion gave its last meeting at Mystic in 1895, 

 the Readville track being opened in 1896. 



In 1S74 Mr. Willis, in company with David 

 Blanchard. gave the great $10,000 stallion 

 race, which was won by Smuggler. 



Several running races were given at Mystic 

 with indifferent success. During the progress 

 of a meeting in 1893 a fire occurred in the 

 stables in which three horses were destroyed. 

 During one of the last meetings at Mystic, 

 Star Pointer ( 1 :59 1-4) established a world's 

 pacing record for three heats in a race, which 

 remained unbeaten for several years. 



In 10,03 the track property was sold to a 

 real estate syndicate, headed by C. C. May- 

 berry, and little of the old track is in existence 

 now — a portion of the back-stretch. Where 

 the famous hotel, the Mystic House, stood, 

 have been created modern dwelling houses. 



Combination Park was the result of a long- 

 cherished desire of J. Tyler Hicks, who away 

 back in the eighties, when he ran Granite 

 State Park, in Dover, N. H., laid plans for 

 some day building and owning a model race 

 track. In 1895 he secured the property in 

 Medford, and with his son Arthur, and 

 his brother George began the construction of 

 the track. 



The plant was finished in the Spring of 

 1896, and on June 10 it was thrown open to 

 the public. Woodshed won the first heat ever 

 raced over it in 2:21 3-4, and Greenhorn the 

 first race. Race meetings were held that year 

 and in 1897 and 1898. In 1899 the evening 

 racing began and was continued in 1900. 



As fast, if not the fastest half-mile track- 

 in the world, in the years it was used for 

 regular meetings, it was the scene of some 



