Tom Bowling
 

Tom Bowling was a great horse from the 1870's. He won the Travers Stakes by 10 lengths with a rope still dangling from his neck.

That margin of victory was a Travers record that wasn't broken until 94-years later. He was such a bad actor at the start of races, that a handler (with the aid of a rope) would have to keep him facing the right direction at the start.

More than 30-years after his final race, a few old-timers still considered him the best ever. The following is from a DRF column in the summer of 1906...

On Tom Bowling's Travers win:

6f in 1:16.75
1m in 1:47

Sounds slow to me.

Races were timed from the beat of a drum and with a standing start in the 1800's. Not with a running start after a period of "run-up" as they have been since the 1900's.

But still, it's almost certain that those horses were much slower than modern horses. The tracks were probably a lot slower as well.

He had the North American record for 12 furlongs, which was only 2:34.75

He ran two one-mile heats the same day. Both of them in 1:43

Yeah, I was kidding.

In other news, here's the call of his Travers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0EuqJLhhDA

I wonder what kind of numbers Jerry Brown would give a him. Since he thinks horses from the 1970s were a slow pack of mules compared to those of today I can only imagine what he'd think of horses from the 1870s.

Tom Bowling would probably be running for a 7.5K tag in an N2L going nine furlongs at Finger Lakes or the like.

It's amazing what could get published in 1906. That first article had 3 different N-words in it...capped off with an "in coon phrase"

I invite you to look at the 3rd place finisher in the 1911 Preakness:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preakne...four_finishers

That horse died that year.

I just mentioned yesterday in another thread how much the public's sensibilities can change over time. That DRF article is a shining (or not so shining) example of something that was acceptable 100 years ago but would generally be considered repulsive today.

--Dunbar

I just read here that use of the N-word was okayed by the Jockey Club until 1941:

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports...aw_nuts.2.html


--Dunbar

Thanks for the link, which I followed back to page 1 and at the bottom got several promising ideas for my next DT username.