America Horse Museums

Where to Find America's Horse Museums
By Doug Gelbert

In 1788 a British thoroughbred stallion named Messenger arrived in Philadelphia. This unheralded immigrant soon began a breeding career that launched the sport of standardbred racing in America. When Messenger died in 1808 he was buried with full military honors.

Horses were our first sports heroes. Eager crowds approaching 100,000 would gather to watch fabled horses race in the 1800's. Today, our equine athletes are no less revered. More American museums celebrate horse competitions than any other sport.

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York (Union Avenue and Ludlow Streets, Saratoga Springs 12866, 518/584-0400) is a thoroughbred racing shrine. Inside the brick building across from the Saratoga Race Course the Museum winds in a racing oval around a central courtyard. Gracing the courtyard is a statue of Triple Crown winner Secretariat. On the front lawn sits an eighth pole that was on Belmont Racetrack when Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by a remarkable 31 lengths in 1973.

Inside the Museum, entered through an actual starting gate, the highlight is the extensive Hall of Fame honoring horses, jockeys and trainers on black, brown and green plaques in illuminated booths. Fans can summon information on their favorite inductees or any of AmericaÕs 130 racetracks from computerized video monitors in the booths. A wide screen movie theater, featuring Race America plays inside the Hall of Fame.

The history of thoroughbred racing is traced through galleries of equine paintings and photographs. A skeleton of a horse in extended action helps explain how a 1500-pound thoroughbred with impossibly fragile ankles is a perfect motion machine, acclerating to 42 mph in just over 2 seconds. The race track atmosphere is recreated in a simulated paddock area and jockeyÕs changing room.

Across town, tucked into the back grounds of the Saratoga Raceway sits a rustic dark green wooden building with a green and red striped roof. With its wide porch and landscaped front yard it could easily be the local garden center. In fact it is The Saratoga Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame (352 Jefferson Street, Saratoga Springs 12866, 518/587-4210), a little gem of a sports museum devoted to harness racing in Saratoga Springs which dates to 1847, 16 years before the beginning of the more celebrated thoroughbred racing in Saratoga.

Harness racing equipment, photographs and exhibits abound as tributes to the horses and horsemen that have raced in Saratoga. A large side room features a collection of antique sulkies including two cutters from the 1800's with blades instead of wheels, which were used for winter racing on ice. Each visitor to the Hall of Fame receives a free pass to the harness races at Saratoga Raceway. You are encouraged to sit on the Horseshoe Bench before leaving the Museum to test your luck at the races.

The Hall of Fame of the Trotter in Goshen, New York (240 Main Street, Goshen, 10924, 914/294-6330) is in the famous Tudor-style Good Time Stable in the center of town. Inside the Museum the atmosphere of the stable, built in 1913, remains. Stalls have been fashioned into exhibition rooms and hay chutes transformed into miniature stages for statues and trophies. Behind the Museum is Historic Track, the first sporting site in America to be designated a Registered National Landmark.