Quote:
Originally Posted by JolyB
In honor of Presidents' Day, Gulfstream Park is running a series of starter handicap races that they have named after the nicknames of either former Presidents or, when the races are for fillies and mares, after former First Ladies.
The races are named: Little Magician, Trust Buster, Mary Todd, Lady Bird, Mrs. Presidentress, Rough and Ready, American Fabius, Sage of Monticello, Rail Splitter and Old Man Eloquent. There is also one allowance race since a race that was to be named the Old Hickory didn't fill. Quick, without using Google, how many can you identify?
|
Here are the Presidents and First Ladies after whom today's Gulfstream Park races were named. Some were very obvious, while others were more obscure
Little Magician: Martin Van Buren, who had a number of nicknames due to his Machiavellian nature. He was also called the Sly Fox, and because the panic of 1837 occurred on his watch, Martin Van Ruin. During the campaign of 1840, the pro-Harrison song Tippicanoe and Tyler Too referred to "Van, the used up man".
Trust Buster: Teddy Roosevelt
Mary Todd: Mrs. Lincoln
Lady Bird: LBJ's wife
Mrs. Presidentress: Julia Tyler, who was President Tyler's second wife and the first woman to marry a President while he was in office. She was 30 years his junior.
Rough and Ready: more frequently called Old Rough and Ready. Zachary Taylor as a soldier was apparently ready to share the hardships of a military campaign with his troops.
American Fabius: George Washington. The reference is to a famous Roman general, who like Washington was able to engage in smaller battles without ever losing his army in a large battle. He could afford to lose a series of smaller battles to the British, but was always able to keep his ragtag army intact to be able to fight another day and ultimately achieve victory.
Sage of Monticello: Thomas Jefferson
Rail Splitter: Abraham Lincoln
Old Man Eloquent: John Quincy Adams, not for anything he said as President but for his long career in the House of Representatives after leaving the Presidency in which he made many speeches on the floor of the House advocating the limitation and then the repeal of slavery.
Old Hickory: Andrew Jackson
There are a couple of less complimentary presidential nicknames (in the 19th century) that could have been used. The ones that come to mind are His Accidency, referring to President Tyler's unexpected elevation to the Presidency after William Henry Harrison's death and His Fraudulence, referring to all of the unsavory back room deals that were made in 1876 that resulted in Rutherford B. Hayes becoming President.