The Maryland Jockey Club is a sporting organization dedicated to horse racing, founded in Annapolis in 1743. The Jockey Club was founded more than 30 years before the start of the Revolutionary War and is chartered as the oldest sporting organization in North America. After 267 years it remains the corporate name of the company that operates

Pimlico Race Course Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Ol ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

which opened in 1870,

Laurel Park Racecourse Laurel Park, formerly Laurel Race Course, is an American thoroughbred racetrack located just outside Laurel, Maryland which opened in 1911. The track is miles in circumference. Its name was changed to "Laurel Race Course" for several decades unt ...

Laurel, Maryland Laurel is a city in Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington and Baltimore on the banks of the Patuxent River. While the city limits are entirely in northern Prince George's County, outlying developments extend into Anne Arunde ...

which opened in 1911 and

Bowie Race Track The Bowie Race Track was a horse racing track located just outside the city limits of Bowie, Maryland. The one mile oval racetrack, known as Prince George's Park, was opened October 1, 1914 under the auspices of the Southern Maryland Agricultural ...

Bowie, Maryland Bowie () is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 58,329. Bowie has grown from a small railroad stop to the largest municipality in Prince George's County, and the fifth most populous c ...

which opened as race course in 1914 and ceased operations as a track in 1985. The track now serves as a training center for Thoroughbred racehorses.Maryland Jockey Club website

History

The Maryland Jockey Club was founded in 1743. The

Annapolis Subscription Plate Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

, the second oldest trophy in America and the oldest recorded formal horse race in Maryland, was won in that same year of 1743 by George Hume Steuart's

Dungannon Dungannon () is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 14,340 at the 2011 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council had its headquarters in the ...

. Irregular race meetings were held in spring and autumn seasons during an eleven-year span from 1755 through 1766. The exact dates, start times and number of races carded during these meeting were not uniform in part due to interference from the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. Future president of the United States

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

attended the Maryland Jockey Club race meeting frequently in 1762 going to the track for almost every carded event. He also attended race meetings in 1766, 1767, 1771, 1772 and 1773.

Revolutionary War

Regularly scheduled race meetings were held during both the spring and autumn in 1769 with uniform start times and number of races carded. The meets were run in Annapolis, Maryland. The races were continued in this fashion at that same location until 1775. In the autumn of 1775 the Maryland Jockey Club postponed all racing, due to the break out of war, upon the recommendation of Congress, "in consequense of report upon the state of the country. All should quietly return to their homes."2007 Maryland Jockey Club Media Guide, page 7 on March 3, 2007 In 1782, some Annapolis races resumed in Autumn, the country having returned to a state of normalcy following the Revolutionary War. The Maryland Jockey Club revitalized on March 1, 1783 some six months before the formal peace treaty ending the war was signed by two Jockey Club members; Governor

William Paca William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and

Charles Carroll of Carrollton Charles Carroll (September 19, 1737 – November 14, 1832), known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III, was an Irish-American politician, planter, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was the only Catholic sign ...

(both also signers of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

). A meeting of the Jockey Club took place on Saturday, March 1, 1783, at Mr Mann's tavern in Annapolis. Club rules were set down including that the plate given by the club should be run on the first Tuesday of November, at Annapolis, that the prize money should be "sixty guineas", and that the annual subscription should be "three guineas".

Early 19th century

The Maryland Jockey Club was issued a new charter by the U.S. Congress in 1830 which is now displayed in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

General T. M. Forman was elected president of the Jockey Club; B. H. Cohen, treasurer; and J. S. Skinner, corresponding secretary. With the decline of Annapolis and the growth of Baltimore as an economic center, the Maryland Jockey Club shifted its operations to "Central Course, Baltimore," about five miles southwest of the city on the Frederick Pike. In 1831, President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

became a member of the Maryland Jockey Club and raced his very own White House Stable in meets under the ''nom de course'' A. J. Donelson (actually the name of his private secretary).

Late 19th century

In 1867 the site of present day

was incorporated for a track by the state by way of the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamb ...

. In 1868

Saratoga Race Course Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track located on Union Avenue in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. Opened in 1863, it is often considered to be the oldest major sporting venue of any kind in the country, but is actua ...

in New York revived its racing program after its interruption by the

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states t ...

. Maryland Governor

Oden Bowie Oden Bowie (November 10, 1826December 4, 1894), a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 34th Governor of the State of Maryland in the United States from 1869 to 1872. Childhood He was born in 1826 at Fairview Plantation in Coll ...

and others attended that Saratoga meet and devised the Dinner Party Stakes (now called the

Dixie Stakes The Dinner Party Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in mid-May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the eighth-oldest graded stakes race in the United States and the oldest stakes race in Maryland and all o ...

) for a track in Baltimore. In September 1869, the first

Maryland State Fair The Maryland State Fair is the annual state fair for the state of Maryland. It is held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds located near the intersection of York and Timonium roads in Timonium. As of 2006, the fair is an 11-day event, customaril ...

was held at Pimlico Race Course. The present site of the Maryland Jockey Club was opened at Pimlico on October 25, 1870. A new corporation (Pimlico) was organized on May 14 of that same year in a ballroom of the Barnum's City Hotel in Baltimore. Governor Oden Bowie was elected its first President. The first stakes race held at the track was the Dinner Party Stakes and it was won by

Preakness Preakness may refer to: * The Preakness or Preakness Stakes, an American flat thoroughbred horse race held in Baltimore, Maryland * Preakness (horse), an American thoroughbred racehorse from Preakness Stables * Preakness, New Jersey, a section of W ...

, a son of Lexington on October 27, 1870. Stakes races also run that year were the "Breakfast Stakes" and the "Bowie Stakes," both were won by Glenelg. In 1873, Pimlico staged the first

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () on ...

a classic event for three-year-olds. There were seven starters from 21 subscribers to pre-liminary races. Survivor won the inaugural Preakness Stakes which was named for the winner of the first Dinner Party Stakes. In 1876, the Maryland Jockey Club presented nine stakes races (then a record), which attracted 312 nominations. The signature event of the meet was the fourth running of the Preakness Stakes which was won by Shirley. In 1877, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

, both the House of Representatives and the Senate adjourned on October 24 so that members of both houses could witness a race of intersectional scope in which

Parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

, Ten Broeck and

Tom Ochiltree Tom Ochiltree (1872–1897), was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1875 Preakness Stakes and several other major stakes. In 1877, he lost in one of the most famous match races of the nineteenth century – a race that had been so ...

met. They finished in that order in what was to become known as "the Big Race" in a stakes program of ten stakes races.

The Maryland Jockey Club today

Today racing in Maryland is at risk, threatened by declining revenues and pressure from developers.Article in Baltimore Sun, 8th November 2010
Retrieved December 2011

Notable Members

* George Hume Steuart * William Steuart *

References

Rogner, Bud, p.122, ''Tales of Delmarva and Other Places''
Retrieved December 2011
Warner, Chris, and Schminke, Don, p. ''High Altitude Leadership: What the World's Most Forbidding Peaks Teach Us''
Retrieved December 2011

Notes

{{reflist, 2

External links

Article on Annapolis Subscription Plate at www.hometownannapolis.com
Retrieved December 2011
History of Maryland Jockey Club
Retrieved December 2011
The Maryland Jockey Club of Baltimore City, 1924
Retrieved December 2011
Official website of the Maryland Jockey Club
Retrieved December 2011
Official website of the Maryland Jockey Club
Retrieved December 2011 Horse racing organizations in the United States Maryland in the American Revolution 1743 establishments in Maryland