On October 20, 1923, at Belmont Park in New York, Kentucky Derby
champion Zev toed the starting line alongside Epsom Derby winner
Papyrus, the top colt from England, to compete for a $100,000
purse. Years of Progressive reform efforts had nearly eliminated
horseracing in the United States only a decade earlier. But for
weeks leading up to the match race that would be officially dubbed
the "International," American journalists provided unprecedented
exposure for the sport. The widespread buzz surrounding the race
helped lay groundwork for the sport's national proliferation in the
years that followed and reaffirmed New York's status as the
epicenter of American racing a decade after the sport's return from
a two-year shutdown there. Framing the match race between two
prominent countries also raised the stakes and put Americans in the
position of embracing a new nation, one that would become a global
superpower following World War I. In Racing for America, author
James C. Nicholson argues that the Zev-Papyrus match served as an
important starting point for a progression of international events,
including the Empire City Gold Cup, the Washington DC International
Stakes, and the Arlington Million, that eventually culminated in
the creation of the Breeders Cup World Championships - the annual
apex of American racing. Nicholson discusses how syndicated sports
columnists shared news, analysis, gossip, and profiles of the
equine contestants and the people associated with them, including
Zev's owner, oil tycoon Harry F. Sinclair, curmudgeonly trainer Sam
Hildreth, and budding celebrity jockey Earl Sande. The American
press also played up the rags-to-riches angle in stories about
Papyrus's team, creating interest in, and sympathy for, the English
team. Those tales of upward social mobility also homed in on
American mythological space, muddying the waters as to which horse
better reflected what Americans collectively wanted to see in
themselves. An American Triumph narrates the rise of an
international racing circuit and community, the imperiled status of
American racing, the rise of big-time celebrity culture surrounding
sports, the glamor and corruption of American politics and
resurgent big business, and the popularization of eugenics. Though
the International Race was one of the biggest sporting events of
the era, no one associated with Zev or the "Race of the Century"
would earn a lasting place in American popular memory among other
athletic heroes in the golden age of sports, including Babe Ruth,
Jack Dempsey, Bill Tilden, and Walter Hagen. Racing for America
remembers the blockbuster event, arguing not only that the match
brought American horseracing to a place of cultural prominence that
it had not achieved in decades, but that the "International,"
illustrates Americans' hunger for tangible evidence of their
nation's strength in the aftermath of the First World War, as well
as the central role of politics, money, and ballyhoo in the growth
of commercialized sports in Jazz Age America.
General
Imprint: |
The University Press of Kentucky
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Horses in History |
Release date: |
April 2021 |
Authors: |
James C Nicholson
|
Dimensions: |
216 x 140 x 22mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
248 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8131-8064-9 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8131-8064-3 |
Barcode: |
9780813180649 |
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