Horse Racing: The Golden Age of the Track
Photographs by Bert MorganEdited by Eric Rachlis and Blossom Lefcourt
Introduction by Bill Barich
Chronicle Books
Bert Morgan was the official track photographer at the New York Racing Association from the mid 1930's into the 1950's, after several years of freelance work for such magazines as Vanity Fair and Town & Country. He is credited for devising many of the standard camera angles we see regularly today in racing photography, such as the under-the-rail and the head-on shots, the first of which appear in this collection. Morgan was fortunate to have worked during racing's glory years, when huge crowds were the norm and not the exception, when Hialeah was racing's winter home, and when Calumet Farm was the home of champions. He often photographed the apron area, which was a sea of suits and hats, a stark contrast to the desolate aprons of today. He personally witnessed and photographed six Triple Crown winners, each of which is featured here.
Race photography, as expected, figures prominently in the book. Jump racing was more commonplace during his tenure, with several photos of steeplechasers at Belmont and Aqueduct appearing. The finish shots of the match races between Seabiscuit and War Admiral, and between Alsab and Requested are featured, as is the photo finish of the first triple dead heat in racing history, in the 1944 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. This photo is the one I get the most email requests for and it appears both on the front cover and inside. You can see rare photos of such champions as Man O'War, Bold Ruler, Bull Lea, Citation, Native Dancer, Count Fleet, Whirlaway, and Assault. You can also see the first starting gates used at New York tracks, such as the "Wait Jr." which lacked doors.
Along with the horse shots, Morgan documented the rich and famous who graced the grandstands and Turf Clubs of yesteryear. In the book are photos of such luminaries as Bing Crosby, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Elizabeth Taylor, Babe Ruth, Prince Aly Khan, and Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy, both as a child and after her marriage to JFK.
One hundred and fifty black and white photos, selected from the Bert and Richard Morgan Collection, grace the pages of this book. Many readers would be too young to have witnessed what Bert Morgan was able to witness in person, but through this book we are given an opportunity to take a look back at racing's glory days, and one cannot help but wish things would return to the way they were.
Horse Racing: The Golden Age of the Track is available from RacingBooks.com or compare prices at mySimon and deserves a spot in any racing history fan's library.
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