CHAPTER XVIII.RACING.
Thenational love of horse-racing, which is growing in intensity year by year, finds nowhere a better ground for development than in Chicago. There are in active operation in this city during the months of summer and autumn three admirably equipped race tracks, where the fleetest horses in the world are entered in daily contests for fat purses. Attached to each are commodious betting-rings, where the spectator may indulge in any size of wager he desires, from a dollar upward. On any fine day during the summer the roads leading to the tracks are thronged with gay equipages, which add spirit to a scene always varied and beautiful. Two of these tracks are located on the West side, one at Hawthorne (Corrigan’s) and the other at the western extremity of Garfield park (the Garfield Racing Association). The other, and by far the most famous of the three, is the WashingtonPark Club, at the southern end of Washington park. The Washington Park Club, under whose auspices the races there are given each year, is a somewhat aristocratic organization, composed of a number of the well-to-do citizens of Chicago. The commodious club-house occupies a commanding position to the west of the grand stand and admission thereto is confined to members and their friends. To the grand stand and enclosure adjoining, the public is admitted at a charge of one dollar per head. The betting-ring is under the grand stand, and, from the fact that one hundred book-makers are sometimes doing business there at the same time and paying the club $100 per day apiece for the privilege, it may be inferred that the industry is highly profitable.
The races given every year at this beautiful track are famous the country over. They commence early in the month of June with the American Derby, a race for three-year-olds, for which a stake of over $20,000 in value is annually hung up. Derby day is one of the events of the year in Chicago. Every vehicle capable of transporting two or more people to the pleasure ground is bespoken for weeks beforehand. Along Michigan avenue the gay cavalcade goes—tally-hos with their freight of gallant knights and ladies fair; wagonettes,dog-carts, man phaetons, with their clanking chains and glossy steeds; tandems, cocking-carts—the new fashionable vehicle drawn by three horses abreast—down to the simplest and most democratic of conveyances. Away they go, and every window along the route contains its group of people who, while not going to the Derby themselves, intend to see the best part of the show. For hours the procession continues, the vehicles turning from Michigan avenue into the boulevards and then winding into the parks, to emerge presently at the great gateway of the tracks and unload their pleasure-seeking occupants.
The scene when the bell is rung for the great race is one which impresses itself on the mind beyond all possibility of effacement. Spectators are packed in the paddock like sardines in a box. The grand stand is a solid mass of men and women, the toilets of the latter presenting a brilliant picture in the gorgeous sunlight. In the centre of the great in-field, as it is called, jockeys and stable boys are walking about, and scattered here and there are some of the noble brutes that are to take part in the day’s contest. The horses come on the track and a buzz sweeps over the vast assemblage as they go cantering to the post. A few minutes of suspense and then—“They’re off!†cries the crowdand past the grand stand they sweep like a splendid troop of cavalry, the jockeys sitting like statues on the struggling beasts, each one of which is animated by an almost human determination to conquer in the struggle. A moment more and it is over, and a roar goes up as the winner sweeps past the judge’s stand. The great Derby has been lost for some and won by others. After the subsequent and lesser races are over the cavalcade sweeps back to the city again, the winners shouting and singing for joy and the losers solemn in their silence.
The Washington park meeting lasts till the latter part of July. The present officers of the club are as follows: President, George Henry Wheeler; vice-presidents, Samuel W. Allerton, Albert S. Gage, H. I. McFarland, Charles Schwartz; treasurer, John R. Walsh; secretary, John E. Brewster; assistant secretary, James Howard; directors, N. K. Fairbank, Norman B. Ream, Samuel W. Allerton, James W. Oakley, Columbus R. Cummings, Charles I. Barnes, John R. Walsh, Henry Norton, A. S. Gage, S. H. Sweet, G. H. Wheeler, Thomas Murdock, H. J. McFarland, C. J. Singer, and others.
The Garfield park and Corrigan tracks commence operation at the close of the Washington park meeting. The gatherings at these tracks are by no means so aristocratic, but the purses offeredare rich and the racing is of the first quality. The betting facilities are ample. For a while the admission to the Corrigan track was free, but it is a question whether the practice will be followed in future.
At present Chicago is one of the liveliest racing centers in the country during the season and the visitor who desires to see a little of this exciting sport will find the amplest facilities at his command for so doing.