THE " UNION COURSE." 153 



eminence ; the other, by an unbroken succession of victories, to 

 his last glorious triumph. 



While racing continued with regularity at Newmarket, the 

 course at Harlem was also kept up ; and for a short period, one 

 was established at Powle's Hook, in Kew Jersey, opposite New 

 York city. But not until 1819 did the citizens of New York 

 manifest a just appreciation of the exciting and healthful amuse- 

 ment. In this year an association was formed, principally of 

 citizens, and a course established at Bath, in the county of 

 Kings, on Long Island, and races held there for two seasons. 

 The location, however, not proving satisfactory, in 1821 the 

 same association purchased a plot of ground in Queens County, 

 eight miles from Brooklyn, enclosed it, and under the title of 

 the " Union Course," largely encreased the amount of purses, 

 and placed racing on a more elevated and permanent footing 

 than heretofore. In 1828, an association of gentlemen estab- 

 lished a course in Dutchess County, near Poughkeepsie, gave 

 liberal purses, and had well-conducted and good racing for 

 several years. In 1838, individual enterprise established the 

 Beacon Coarse at Hoboken, New Jersey, opposite New York 

 city. Great expense was incurred in grading and making suit- 

 able erections. Large purses were given, and for a time its 

 easy access from the city rendered it exceedingly popular. 



The foregoing are believed to be all the courses, of any con- 

 siderable note, that have existed in this State or adjacent ; and 

 it is somewhat remarkable, that within the last ten or fifteen 

 years, all have been abandoned except in Queens County, L. I., 

 and here principally kept up by the trotting fraternity, with 

 occasional exhibitions of the noblest amusement that ever stirred 

 the blood or engaged the mind of man. Indeed the people 

 seem to be instinctively drawn to a county which has ever been 

 the focus of racing, as well as the field of successful breeding. 

 Many of the very best racers, as well as trotters, have been 

 reared within her limited borders, and scarcely a stallion of any 

 eminent standing at the North, but has held his court within 

 her precincts. Evincing, also, the spirit and liberality of her 

 ])eople, and not irrelevant to the subject of this discursive com- 

 nmnication, is the fact that about the year 1798 or '99, a hunting- 

 club was formed by gentlemen of the Island ; a pack of hounds 



