Every now and then this lil ole chiweenie Sportsphile responsible for posting all videos to our site here at ImaSportsphile….gets one that is just plain ole fun to post….typically cuz it is not related to a specific event or athlete/performer…..kind of like writing about Fenway Park….or Madison Square Garden… or The Apollo Theater….cuz the place where the events take place….become the event….which captures vivid memories from days gone by….and Pimlico Racetrack is one of those places.
One of those Pimlico memories happened on October 24, 1877….which was a day that the United States Congress shut down for a day…..so that its members could attend a horse race at Pimlico….that is known today as “The Great Race”….as the event was a 2½-mile match race run by a trio of champion horses….Ten Broeck….Tom Ochiltree….and Parole. ….whereas Ten Broeck was the Kentucky champion…. who was owned by F. B. Harper….while Tom Ochiltree was the Eastern champion and winner of the 1875 Preakness Stakes….who was owned by George L. Lorillard, an heir to the Lorillard tobacco fortune…. whereby was a gelding owned by Pierre Lorillard IV. Parole, with William Barrett up, prevailed with a late run….after crossing the finish line three lengths ahead of Ten Broeck….and six ahead of Tom Ochiltree….who had helped to set the early pace with Barbee in the irons. An estimated 20,000 people crowded into Pimlico to witness the event.
The event is depicted in a four-ton stone base relief…..which was copied from a Currier & Ives print….and sculpted in stone by Bernard Zuckerman….which now hangs over the clubhouse entrance at Pimlico Racetrack….while standing 30 feet (9.1 m) long and 10 feet (3.0 m) high….and is gilded in 24-karat gold leaf…..for this was The Great Race.
