Tom Bowling

[Calzone Lord]

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...

[Calzone Lord]

On Tom Bowling's Travers win:

[Indian Charlie]

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

Sounds slow to me.

[Calzone Lord]

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

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

1m in 1:47

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

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

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

Yeah, I was kidding.

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

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

[miraja2]

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.