TWO HEROES OF A DISTANT ERA
Prioress and Spinaway remain recognized with Saratoga race honors
Saratoga Race Course was still a few years away from being conceptualized when Prioress made her imprint on history in 1857, and the track was still in its teenage years when Spinaway was enjoying her brief heyday during the summer of 1880. Neither filly ever raced at Saratoga nor had the sort of career worthy of a spot in the Hall of Fame across the street from the fabled track. But these two ancient racehorses, forgotten by all but the sport’s most devout historians, have long been acknowledged with races in their honor.
Both the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes (Saturday) and the Grade 1 Spinaway (Sunday) are longtime staples on the New York circuit and are among the highlights of the final few days of this year’s Saratoga racing season. The Prioress will be contested for the 73rd time and the Spinaway, which holds the distinction of being the oldest stakes race in America for 2-year-old fillies, will be held for the 129th time.
Bred in Louisiana, Prioress was a bay daughter of the imported British stallion Sovereign out of the Glencoe mare Reel, winner in seven of her eight races and also the dam of the famous Lecomte. Prioress was bred by Gen. Thomas J. Wells and won a race at the Metairie course in her home state as a 2-year-old in 1855. She set a record for one-mile heats, winning in 1:46¼ and 1:45. She was then purchased for $2,500 by Richard Ten Broeck, who planned on campaigning a stable in England. In her first race across the pond, the Goodwood Cup, Prioress was a disappointment and thus became regarded as being below the cut for British racing.
Undeterred, Ten Broeck entered Prioress in the 1858 Cesarewitch Stakes at Newmarket. An afterthought based on her poor showing in the Goodwood, Prioress was dismissed at odds of 100-1. The race was contested at the distance of two miles plus two furlongs and 28 yards. This time, Prioress was up for the challenge. In the lead heading for home, Prioress found herself in a desperate struggle to hold the advantage nearing the finish.
“One of the most exciting Cesarewitch finishes ever seen then ensued,” reported the New York Times. “Prioress halfway up the cords seemed to be about coming in alone, but the tiny jockeys of El Hakim and Queen Bess made a determined set to, and the judge unable to separate the first three pronounced a dead heat.”
Instead of letting the result stand as a triple dead heat, the three horses ran again to settle the matter. In between, Prioress was “given a gallop of three miles to limber her up,” according to an old account from the Daily Racing Form. Prioress was up for the challenge, winning the second heat by a length and a half. The Times reported “a loud and prolonged cheer hailed the American colors, and Mr. Ten Broeck was warmly congratulated upon the first victory achieved by him in England.”
Prioress had become a trailblazer, the first horse bred in America and owned by an American to win a stakes race on English soil. Prioress went on to win the Great Yorkshire Handicap in England in 1858 and won races at Newmarket and Epsom in 1859. Following her retirement, Prioress remained in England as a broodmare. She produced six foals, none of which were distinguished on the track. Prioress died in 1868 while delivering her final foal. The sensational Spinaway Bred in Pennsylvania by Aristides Welch, Spinaway was a chestnut daughter of the imported British stallion Leamington, the leading sire in America four times. Owned by George Lorillard, trained by Hall of Famer R. W. Walden, and ridden exclusively by Hall of Famer Lloyd Hughes, Spinaway was a remarkable 2-year-old in 1880.
Racing from early June through mid-September, Spinaway won seven of nine starts — all in stakes events — and defeated colts in each of her victories. She broke her maiden in her debut, winning the Juvenile Stakes at Jerome Park by threequarters of a length. In the Juvenile, she defeated General Monroe, who went on to win the prestigious Saratoga Cup twice (1883, 1884) and the Suburban Handicap (1884), and Thora, a future champion and winner of the Alabama (1881) and Saratoga Cup (1882). Also in June, Spinaway won the Foam Stakes and Surf Stakes at Gravesend before being sent to Monmouth Park in New Jersey.
At Monmouth, Spinaway won the Hopeful Stakes and July Stales before suffering her first defeat in the August Stakes, finishing second to Barrett, future winner of the Jerome Handicap. Three days later, Barrett again defeated Spinaway, this time in the Criterion Stakes. Spinaway turned the tables on Barrett on Sept. 4 in the Bouquet Stakes at Gravesend. She then closed out her season with a victory against Gouverneur in Gravesend’s Chestnut Hill Stakes.
With seven wins and two seconds from nine starts, Spinaway was being lauded by the press. In The Spirit of the Times, a columnist writing under the moniker “Albion” stated: “I have been a turf attendant for some years, and have seen a number of races and fine finishes, but I have never seen a horse finish like this filly.”