Family Fun, Horse Racing And Live Entertainment Come Together At Beverley Racecourse This Summer

For a great day out with the whole family, complete with fun activities and live entertainment, look no further.

Beverley Racecourse is set to host multiple themed event days at its beautiful, iconic Westwood track throughout July and August, alongside numerous exciting racing experiences.

Read on for a glimpse at some of the events coming up…July 1: Time to boogie at 70s Bus Stop Night

For all those wanting to bust out their flares and throw some shapes, there’s nowhere better than Beverley Racecourse’s 70s Bus Stop Night on Friday, July 1.

Taking place straight after the racing, it’s the perfect august bank holiday horse racing opportunity to travel back in time and enjoy some awesome 70s disco, along with some food and drink.August 10: Take part in Ladies Day Get involved and dress to win ‘Most Stylish Racegoer’ on Ladies Day

Presented by Porsche Centre Hull, Ladies Day is a real favourite across the whole of Yorkshire.

On Wednesday, August 10, dress to impress to be in with a chance of winning the ‘Most Stylish Racegoer’ award – there’ll be some fabulous prizes on the cards for the most stylish male and female.August 27: Witness the Beverley Bullet live

Kick off the bank holiday weekend with some fabulous racing on Saturday, August 27.

The fastest horses in the land will battle it out for the right to be crowned the Beverley Bullet winner in the 18th running of the competition – can someone break the minute barrier again?

After the racing, join the official after-party and a DJ set with Pat Sharp, radio DJ and presenter known for the children’s game show, Fun House.

There’ll also be food and drink available on the day.August 28: Enjoy the Circus Family Funday Enjoy funfair rides, games, workshops and more

On Sunday, August 28, there’s even more amazing racing to enjoy, followed by a fantastic afternoon for the whole family with the Circus Family Funday.

There’ll be plenty of action on and off the track with a circus workshop in a traditional big top, free funfair rides, and traditional side shows for all ages, including ‘coconut shies’ and ‘bat the rat’.

It’s shaping up to be a proper summer fete feel!

Tickets for the above events, and more, are available now. All under 18s enter for free if accompanied by a paying adult. To find out more and book your tickets, visit beverley-racecourse.Co.Uk.

A Lasting Impact – Celebrating The Jewish Influence On American Horse Racing

American Pharoah charges into history as he completes the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes in 2015. Both the race and its host venue were named after Jewish immigrant August Belmont I; the horse was owned by Ahmed Zayat, from a family of Egyptian Orthodox Jews. Photo: NYRA/Coglianese

Last month was Jewish American Heritage Month, paying tribute to the generations who have helped shape the fabric of history, culture and society. Here, ahead of this weekend’s Belmont Stakes, Carly Silver traces the Thoroughbred industry’s rich Jewish heritage.

As the Belmont Stakes looms on the horizon, attention shifts north from Churchill Downs and Pimlico. It is well-known that financier August Belmont I, a pioneer in New York racing, serves as the namesake for both the Triple Crown’s third jewel and its host track. But digging deeper reveals a complex character with a complicated life.

Despite assimilating into Protestant society, Belmont was a Jewish immigrant. Indeed, one can trace the indelible legacy left by those of Jewish heritage throughout the sport’s history.

As Melvin Adelman noted in A Sporting Time, the rise of organized, competitive sports in America in the 19th century went hand-in-hand with immigration, urbanization and industrialization. Horse racing, in particular, transformed after the Civil War, moving from a sport associated with aristocratic plantation owners to a pastime driven by gambling. 

The number of tracks exploded, as did the amount of Central and Eastern European Jews, known as Ashkenazim, populating cities; these immigrants became intertwined with the local sporting landscapes, including horse racing.A towering figure: August Belmont I

Looming over them all, both in terms of capital and legacy in the sport, was August Belmont I. He was born August Schönberg in 1816 in what is now western Germany. Details of his life are greatly obscured; his family was alternately impoverished or wealthy, and Belmont either covertly maintained his faith for life or gave it up.

Either way, clever August moved to Frankfurt at age 13, where he worked for the esteemed Rothschild bank. The young man soon impressed with his ability to manage funds, even handling delicate papal transactions while still a teen. Aged just 21, he was assigned to work in Havana, Cuba, when a financial crisis – better known as the Panic of 1837 – struck. Heading to New York, August took advantage of the depression and made astute purchases, becoming an independent financial player nearly overnight.

But it was his choice of bride that helped make him part of in New York’s social elite. In 1849, he wed blueblooded Caroline Slidell Perry, daughter of Commodore Matthew Perry, who helped force open Japanese trade to the West. Before the nuptials, Belmont is said to have converted from Judaism to Episcopalianism; whether or not he actually did, he eschewed future mention of his heritage going forward, and his children were raised Protestant.

But antisemitism lingered. Still an agent for the Rothschilds, Belmont was indignant when the Pennsylvania state treasurer wrote him in 1868: “We are willing to give you the pound of flesh, but not one drop of Christian blood.” 

Four years earlier, when Belmont served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the New York Times spat: “Yes, the great Democratic party has fallen so low that it has to seek a leader in the agent of foreign Jew bankers.”

Belmont headed the American Jockey Club, a forerunner of the modern, august institution, for two decades. In 1867, the first edition of the Belmont Stakes was run at Jerome Park in the Bronx; just two years later, Belmont’s Fenian took the 1869 edition. 

Eventually, the stake moved to a new track on Long Island in New York, also site of Belmont’s Nursery Stud. In 1905, Belmont Park opened, 15 years after his death. On the late suggestion of William Collins Whitney, himself a titan of the turf, the oval was named for Belmont.

Belmont Park was built under the aegis of August’s son and heir August II. In his own right, the younger August Belmont was an important figure in racing, even owning and breeding three Belmont Stakes winners in Masterman (1902), Friar Rock (1916) and Hourless (1917).

A transportation baron, August II served as the Jockey Club’s first president; he also became immortalized as breeder of the great Man o’War and for nurturing the bloodlines of Fair Play and Rock Sand. In his obituary, Time wrote that “he is credited with having saved Thoroughbred racing when it was at its lowest ebb in the East…”

August II’s legacy carried on after his death. The current Belmont Stakes trophy was a gift from August’s wife, Eleanor Robson Belmont. In 1937, she had the honor of bestowing it upon Sam Riddle, owner of Belmont winner War Admiral – the best son of Man o’War, the greatest runner her husband ever bred. Decades later, one-time Jockey Club chairman August Belmont IV, in partnership, raced Caveat to victory in the 1983 Belmont Stakes.

Belmont was hardly the only Jewish entrepreneur to ascend 19th-century owner lists. Charles Fleischmann, co-founder of the famous commercial yeast manufacturer, sent out 1895 Derby winner Halma to a victory in the Latonia Derby. The February 16, 1900 edition of Turf, Field and Farm extolled the virtues of Fleischmann’s New Jersey farm as being built “without regard to expense to secure perfection”. Northeastern theater operator Julius Cahn campaigned 1897 Kentucky Derby victor Typhoon II and 1898 Kentucky Oaks winner Crocket.Shady in Saratoga: ‘The Brain’ and friends

Jews equally made their presence felt in the gambling world. In his book The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime, Steven Riess cited Irish-born Jewish veterinarian Dr. Robert Underwood as “the founding father of modern bookies”. Working out of the basement of the United States Hotel in Saratoga, Underwood apparently brought the European auction pool system to the States. This betting system flourished in Saratoga, even as the Spa’s legendary Grand Union Hotel banned Jews.

A few decades later came racketeer Arnold ‘the Brain’ Rothstein. Infamous for allegedly fixing the 1919 World Series, Rothstein campaigned Thoroughbreds under the nom de race Redstone Stables (a literal English translation of his surname). Rothstein was also linked to a nefarious betting conspiracy involving the 1921 Travers Stakes, won by his horse Sporting Blood.

Blue-collar trainers ascended to the heights of their sport. Jacob Pincus rode the southern race circuit and clinched a leading jockey title at Saratoga pre-Civil War, Eliza McGraw noted in her article ‘Matchless Jew‘. Known for his quiet professionalism, Pincus trained Belmont I’s 1869 Belmont winner Fenian, as well as Iroquois, the first American-bred horse to win the Epsom Derby.

Trainer Moses ‘Mose’ Goldblatt sent out good runners like Rainland, who won 21 times as a two-year-old, and Flat stakes winner-turned-two-time Maryland Grand National winner Billy Marton. Raking in an estimated $2 million in career earnings, Goldblatt found that his trainee Monk Wayman ran well when prompted by loud noises. He arranged for stable hands to rattle cans filled with stones and ring cowbells at the start of Monk Wayman’s next race, which brought the horse galloping home first.Hirsch Jacobs, Bobby Frankel and Art Sherman

But perhaps the best-known Jewish trainer was 20th-century Hirsch Jacobs, a Brooklyn pigeon racing prince-turned-king of claimers. Jacobs had “an amazing knack for spotting latent abilities in runners whose owners have given up on them,” according to Sports Illustrated’s Gerald Holland. With brash brawler Isidore ‘Beebee’ Bieber as his top client, Jacobs trained hard-trying handicapper Stymie, whose legendary 1940s stretch runs earned him legions of fans, as recounted in Linda Carroll and David Rosner’s Out of the Clouds.

At the time of his 1970 death, Jacobs was the winningmost trainer in the sport’s history. His New York Times obituary reported that Jacobs’ wife, the Catholic Ethel, it had periodically tried to convert her husband. Jacobs would joke: “If they go to the moon and a Catholic greets them, that’s the day I’ll become a convert.” 

The next generation, raised Catholic, carried on their father’s tradition; son John sent out two Classic winners in 1970, both owned by Ethel. One daughter, Mary, became New York’s first licensed female trainer, while another, Patrice, wed corporate raider-turned-prison reform advocate Louis Wolfson and raced 1978 Triple Crown champion Affirmed in the name of their Harbor View Farm. Jacobs’s nephew, successful trainer Buddy Jacobson, was convicted in 1980 of murdering a love rival; he died in prison.

Five-time Eclipse Award winner Bobby Frankel became known as one of the all-time greats with horses like Breeders’ Cup Classic hero Ghostzapper and Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker, Craig Lewis achieved notable success on the West Coast, and Art Sherman conditioned dual Horse of the Year California Chrome to back-to-back Classic wins in 2014 in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. One of the most beloved racehorses of he modern era, ‘Chrome’ also won the Dubai World Cup, then the world’s richest race, in 2016.

The deepest of marks has also been made by Jewish Turf writers, whose roster currently includes Daily Racing Form notable Jay Privman and former Blood-Horse stalwart Steve Haskin. Late luminaries of Turf writing include the aforementioned Perlman, Daily Racing Form publisher Moe Annenberg, and all-time great DRF columnist Joe Hirsch. 

This extends to TV. Liz Bronstein executive produced the 2009 Animal Planet series Jockeys and warmly recalled spending Jewish holidays at the track. Jockeys’ Guild co-founder Sammy Renick became one of the first hosts of a TV racing show, Racing with Renick.

Jewish jockeys also proliferate. In addition to current rider David Cohen, whose career tally exceeds 1,600 including G1 success, and now-retired Brazilian rider Maylan Studart, there is Hall of Famer Walter Blum.

Twice the country’s leading rider by wins, Blum piloted Pass Catcher to victory in the 1971 Belmont Stakes. At just 16, Fellow Hall of Famer Walter Miller took the 1906 Preakness atop Whimsical, then set a longstanding record for most wins in a season (388) before riding the likes of Colin. Willie Harmatz rode Royal Orbit to a win in the 1959 Preakness, two years before rising rider Sidney Cole (né Cohen) died after being thrown in a workout at Aqueduct.

Few women jockeys – and even fewer Jewish women – have had opportunities to rise to the top of their field. On Feb. 22, 1969, Barbara Jo Rubin, of partial Jewish heritage, became the first woman to ride a winner at a recognized US Thoroughbred track. In 1994, trainer Bryan Webb told the Los Angeles Times that Tropical Park owner Saul Silberman (himself a former rabbinical student) explicitly forbade Webb from giving Rubin mounts, stating that he “didn’t want the girl riding, stirring up things”.The times, they are a-changin’

While the American Jockey Club admitted Jews in the 19th Century, the modern Jockey Club did not do so until 1951 when Captain Harry Guggenheim duly became the first Jew inducted into that institution.

In Their Turf, Bernard Livingston quipped of the Jockey Club: “After all, times were changing and it would perhaps look well to have one on the list – particularly if he is old-established money.” He also observed that Guggenheim, John Schiff and Jack Dreyfus Jr. “married into rich, old-line WASP families”. 

By the 1960s, jockey Blum said, as quoted in The Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports: “There is no prejudice around the race tracks – if you’re a nice guy, they like you, and if you’re not, it doesn’t matter what your religion.”

Financier Bernard Baruch, namesake of a current Saratoga stake, raced good stakes winners under the name Kershaw Stable. In 1936, Morton Schwartz campaigned Bold Venture to Derby and Preakness wins; two years later, department store don Herbert Woolf won the Run for the Roses with Lawrin. 

The 1943 Triple Crown winner Count Fleet and his sire, 1928 Derby winner Reigh Count, both raced for cab king John D. Hertz and his wife, Fannie Kessner Hertz. Count Fleet sired Count Turf, winner of the 1951 Derby for New York restaurateur J.J. Amiel – trained by Sol Rutchick. Albert Sabbath campaigned Alsab, a $700 purchase, to a 1942 Preakness win and a triumph over Whirlaway.

As Jews began to flock to the suburbs and assimilate into American society in post-war America, so, too, did they enter the winner’s circle more frequently in an owning capacity. In 1960, all three Classic winners were owned by Jews. Isaac Blumberg’s Sunny Blue Farm sent out Venetian Way to a Kentucky Derby win over Leonard Fruchtman’s Bally Ache.