Ocean Handicap

The Ocean Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York from 1894 thru 1909. A race for horses of either sex age three and older, it was run on dirt over a distance of 1 mile. The Ocean Handicap was the second of the track's autumn serials, coming after the Fall Handicap at 6½ furlongs and before the Omnium Handicap at 1⅛ miles.[1]

Ocean Handicap
Discontinued stakes race
LocationSheepshead Bay Race Track
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York
Inaugurated1894–1909
Race typeThoroughbred – Flat racing
Race information
Distance1 mile (8 furlongs)
SurfaceDirt
Trackleft-handed
QualificationThree-years-old and up

The 1904 running of the Ocean Handicap was won by Walter Jennings very good filly Dainty who beat Alan-a-Dale, winner of the 1902 Kentucky Derby.[2]

The final running of the Ocean Handicap was won by King James, owned and trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Sam Hildreth.[3] King James had not run in the Fall Handicap but went on to earn his second win of the autumn serials with a victory in the Omnium Handicap.[4][5] His performance for the year would earn him recognition as the American Champion Older Horse of 1909.[6]

Demise of the Ocean Handicap

After years of uncertainty, on June 11, 1908 the Republican controlled New York Legislature under Governor Charles Evans Hughes passed the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation with penalties allowing for fines and up to a year in prison.[7] The owners of Sheepshead Bay Race Track, and other racing facilities in New York State, struggled to stay in business without income from betting.[8] Racetrack operators had no choice but to drastically reduce the purse money being paid out which resulted in the Ocean Handicap offering a purse in 1909 that was one-third of what it had been in earlier years. These small purses made horse racing highly unprofitable and impossible for even the most successful horse owners to continue in business. As such, for the 1910 racing season management of the Sheepshead Bay facility dropped some of its less important stakes races and used the purse money to bolster its most important events. The effect was to place the Ocean Handicap on hiatus.[9] Further restrictive legislation was passed by the New York Legislature in 1910 which deepened the financial crisis for track operators and after a 1911 amendment to the law to limit the liability of owners and directors was defeated, every racetrack in New York State shut down.[10] Owners, whose horses of racing age had nowhere to go, began sending them, their trainers and their jockeys to race in England and France. Many horses ended their racing careers there, and a number remained to become an important part of the European horse breeding industry. Thoroughbred Times reported that more than 1,500 American horses were sent overseas between 1908 and 1913 and of them at least 24 were either past, present, or future Champions.[11] When a February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division Court saw horse racing return in 1913 it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay horse racing facility and it never reopened.[12][13]

Records

Speed record:

Most wins:

  • No horse ever won this race more than once

Most wins by a jockey:

  • 2 – Henry Spencer (1900, 1901)
  • 2 – Eddie Dugan (1907, 1909)

Most wins by a trainer:

  • 3 – Walter B. Jennings (1898, 1904, 1905)

Most wins by an owner:

  • 3 – Walter B. Jennings (1898, 1904, 1905)

Winners
Year
 Winner
 Age
 Jockey
 Trainer
 Owner
 Dist.
(Miles)		 Time
 Win$
1909 King James 4 Eddie Dugan Sam Hildreth Sam Hildreth 1 M 1:37.80 $1,125
1908 Half Sovereign 3 James Butler Jr. John Whalen August Belmont Jr. 1 M 1:38.60 $1,125
1907 Dandelion 5 Eddie Dugan John E. Madden Francis R. Hitchcock 1 M 1:40.00 $2,880
1906 Tiptoe 3 Henry Horner John Whalen August Belmont Jr. 1 M 1:38.60 $3,320
1905 Proper 5 Willie Knapp Walter B. Jennings Walter B. Jennings 1 M 1:41.20 $3,300
1904 Dainty 4 Gene Hildebrand Walter B. Jennings Walter B. Jennings 1 M 1:39.00 $3,180
1903 Hermis 4 George M. Odom Alexander Shields Edward R. Thomas 1 M 1:39.80 $2,100
1902 Colonel Bill 3 Harry Michaels James H. McCormick Louis V. Bell 1 M 1:39.40 $1,450
1901 Ten Candles 4 Henry Spencer William Lakeland William Lakeland 1 M 1:38.60 $1,450
1900 Voter 6 Henry Spencer James G. Rowe, Sr. James R. Keene 1 M 1:39.40 $1,450
1899 Imp 5 Peter Clay Charles E. Brossman Daniel R. Harness 1 M 1:40.20 $1,150
1898 Briar Sweet 3 Danny Maher Walter B. Jennings Walter B. Jennings 1 M 1:40.80 $1,150
1897 Belmar 5 Tod Sloan William C. Smith George E. Smith 1 M 1:41.00 $1,125
1896 Buck Massie 4 John Hill J. Healy James M. Murphy 1 M 1:41.00 $1,125
1895 Henry Young 5 Alonzo Clayton Pastime Stable (Nick Finzer) 1 M 1:39.80 $1,125
1894 Domino 3 Fred Taral William Lakeland James R. & Foxhall P. Keene 1 M 1:40.20 $1,450

References
  1. "The Ocean Handicap Winners". Daily Racing Form. 1909-09-05. Retrieved 2019-01-16 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  2. "Alan-a-Dale". Churchill Downs Incorporated. 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  3. "King James Is Winner of the Ocean Handicap". San Francisco Call. 1909-09-07. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  4. "Added Starter Takes The Sheepshead Feature". Atlanta Constitution. 1909-09-14. p. 4. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  5. "Sheepshead Bay Racing Statistics". Daily Racing Form. 1909-09-15. Retrieved 2019-01-24 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  6. "King James". Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees. 1942-06-27. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  7. "Penalties in the New York Bills". Daily Racing Form. 1908-01-18. Retrieved 2018-10-26 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  8. "Keep Up Betting Ban". New York Times. 1908-09-01. Retrieved 2018-11-06.
  9. "Striking Falling off in Value of Ten Greatest Stakes". Daily Racing Form. 1910-07-16. Retrieved 2018-10-15 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  10. "Race Track Bill Defeated In Senate; Measure Modifying Directors' Liability for Gambling Fails of Passage". The New York Times. July 14, 1911. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  11. "Thoroughbred Times". www.ThoroughbredTimes.com. February 14, 2000. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  12. "Destruction Wrought by Hughes". Daily Racing Form. 1908-12-15. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
  13. "Famous Old Track is Sold". Daily Racing Form. 1914-11-17. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
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