The Bottom Line
Pros
- A very vivid account of a defining moment in American sports history
- Eisenberg's writing style keeps the reader's attention the whole way
- Accurate account of American racing's early history
Cons
- We found no fault with this work. One of the best historical books we have seen in awhile.
Description
- There has always been a rivalry between the Northern and Southern states, which led to the Civil War
- They even settled their differences on the racetrack, with Southern horsemen claiming superiority.
- However, the north's Eclipse was a thorn in the side of southerner William Ransom Johnson.
- He felt the need to defeat Eclipse on northern soil to reclaim the South's bragging rights.
- New York's racing elite worked hard to promote this unprecedented sporting event to ensure a crowd.
- Newspapers and local businesses created hype, and more than twice the expected crowd came out.
- To have so many people travel long distances and pay admission for a sports event was unprecedented.
- Clearly, The Great Match Race was a defining moment in horse racing and in sports.
- It was the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the world heavyweight title fight all rolled into one
Guide Review - The Great Match Race
Ask a racing fan which horses competed in the Great Match Race, and you'll either hear Seabiscuit and War Admiral, Nashua and Swaps, or Foolish Pleasure and Ruffian. While these matches were classics and attracted attention from non-racing people, none of them are as significant in racing and sports history as American Eclipse and Henry at the Union Course in New York in 1823.With the northern and southern states engaged in a bitter rivalry which would eventually culminate in the bloody Civil War, their differences were often settled on the racetrack. Southern horsemen historically had the upper hand, with better training methods and superior bloodlines. But a New York horse named Eclipse was winning races on both sides of the "border" and drew the ire of Southern horseman William Ransom Johnson.
On his way to the track, Eclipse walked down the street in mid-day and, as word spread, people stopped work and came out to cheer on their hero. With no bookmakers or tote system bets were made on a handshake between the locals and the visiting southerners who traveled long distances to cheer on Henry.
The Great Match Race, as was typical in those days, was raced in heats, best 2 out of 3, each heat a gruelling 4 miles, or 4 laps around the track. The Union Course was the first American dirt track, meant to be a faster all-season surface compared to the traditional turf, and obviously the innovation stuck as dirt is still the preferred surface in America to this day.
