The Foam Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually from 1880 through 1910 at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. An event for two-year-old horses of either sex, the race was run on dirt over a distance of five furlongs with the exception of 1896 when it was for three-year-old fillies at one mile (8 furlongs). The inaugural running took place on June 19, 1880 and was won by Spinaway for whom the prestigious Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga Race Course was named. The final running took place on June 21, 1910 and was won by Royal Meteor for the Newcastle Stable racing partnership headed by Life magazine publisher Andrew Miller. The Foam was the only stakes race on the card.

The end of a race and of a racetrack On June 11, 1908, the Republican controlled New York Legislature under Governor Charles Evans Hughes passed the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation. The owners of Sheepshead Bay Race Track, and other racing facilities in New York State, struggled to stay in business without income from betting. Racetrack operators had no choice but to drastically reduce the purse money being paid out which resulted in the Foam Stakes offering a purse in 1909 that was less than one-eight of what it had been in earlier years. These small purses made horse racing unprofitable and impossible for even the most successful horse owners to continue in business. As such, for the 1910 racing season management of the Sheepshead Bay facility dropped some of its minor stakes races and used the purse money to bolster more important events.

In spite of strong opposition by prominent owners such as August Belmont, Jr. and Harry Payne Whitney, reform legislators were not happy when they learned that betting was still going on at racetracks between individuals and they had further restrictive legislation passed by the New York Legislature in 1910. Recorded as the Executive Liability Act, the legislation made it possible for racetrack owners and members of its board of directors to be fined and imprisoned if anyone was found betting, even privately, anywhere on their premises. After a 1911 amendment to the law to limit the liability of owners and directors was defeated, every racetrack in New York State shut down. As a result, the Foam Stakes was not run in 1911 and 1912.

Owners, whose horses of racing age had nowhere to go, began sending them, their trainers and their jockeys to race in England and France. Many horses ended their racing careers there and a number remained to become an important part of the European horse breeding industry. Thoroughbred Times reported that more than 1,500 American horses were sent overseas between 1908 and 1913 and of them at least 24 were either past, present, or future Champions. When a February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division Court saw horse racing return in 1913 it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay horse racing facility and it never reopened.

Records Speed record: 0:59.40 @ 5 furlongs : Flyback (1904)

Most wins by a jockey: 3 – Edward Garrison (1887, 1889, 1892)

Most wins by a trainer: 3 – R. Wyndham Walden (1880, 1887, 1890)

Most wins by an owner: 2 – William Lawrence Scott (1884, 1885) 2 – Pierre Lorillard IV (1881, 1882) 2 – Dwyer Brothers Stable (1883, 1886)

Winners Year Winner Age Jockey Trainer Owner Dist. (Miles) Time Win$1910Royal Meteor2Guy GarnerThomas WelshNewcastle Stable5 F1:00.60$2,3301909Kingship2Vincent PowersMatthew FeakesLily A. Livingston5 F1:01.40$3801908Mediant2Dalton McCarthyJohn HugginsHerman B. Duryea5 F1:00.40$4,1001907Cohort2R. LoweWilliam H. KarrickOneck Stable5 F1:00.60$5,3201906Oran2Walter MillerThomas WelshOrmondale Stable (William O'Brien Macdonough)5 F1:00.60$4,7751905Jacobite2Willie DavisA. Jack JoynerSydney Paget5 F1:00.20$3,8901904Flyback2Gene HildebrandJohn E. MaddenJohn E. Madden5 F0:59.40$4,3301903Inflexible2Arthur RedfernJohn W. RogersWilliam Collins Whitney5 F1:01.60$5,8951902Sir Voorhies2Otto WonderlyCharles Littlefield Jr.James B. A. Haggin5 F1:00.80$4,0551901Francesco2Willie ShawThomas WelshJulius Fleischmann5 F1:00.20$3,2801900Dublin2Patrick A. McCueSam HildrethSam Hildreth5 F1:01.00$3,4451899Mesmerist2Winfield O'ConnorJulius J. BauerBromley & Co. (Joseph E. Bromley & Arthur Featherstone)5 F1:02.00$3,5601898Ahom2Tod SloanWilliam C. SmithGeorge E. Smith5 F1:01.60$3,0851897Kitefoot2John J. McCaffertyJohn J. McCaffertyJohn J. McCafferty5 F1:01.40$2,9001896Intermission3Tod SloanHenry HarrisJohn E. McDonald8 F1:43.40$1,4001895Handspring2Samuel DoggettFrank McCabePhilip J. Dwyer5 F1:02.00$4,4751894The Coon2Samuel DoggettWalter C. RollinsOneck Stable5 F1:01.40$4,0001893Dobbins2John LamleyHardy Campbell Jr.Richard Croker5 F1:02.40$4,6001892Lady Violet2Edward GarrisonA. Jack JoynerAugust Belmont Jr.5 F1:02.00$3,8501891Merry Monarch2Marty BergenJohn HylandDavid Gideon5 F1:01.80$4,1751890Ambulance2Fred LittlefieldR. Wyndham WaldenJohn A., Alfred H. & Dave H. Morris5 F1:01.20$4,1751889St. Carlo2Edward GarrisonJames G. Rowe Sr.August Belmont Sr.5 F1:01.00$4,8001888Buddhist2Isaac Burns MurphyJohn W. RogersSamuel S. Brown5 F1:03.00$3,6751887Omaha2Edward GarrisonR. Wyndham WaldenR. Wyndham Walden5 F1:03.00$3,8001886Tremont2Jim McLaughlinFrank McCabeDwyer Brothers Stable5 F1:04.50$2,8001885Quito2Isaac E. LewisByron McClellandWilliam Lawrence Scott5 F1:03.75$2,4251884Florio2Isaac E. LewisByron McClellandWilliam Lawrence Scott5 F1:04.00$3,0251883Burton2Jim McLaughlinJames G. Rowe Sr.Dwyer Brothers Stable5 F1:03.50$2,8751882Parthenia2Charles ShauerMatthew BynesPierre Lorillard IV5 F1:03.751881Gerald2George BarbeeMatthew BynesPierre Lorillard IV5 F1:02.50$2,5001880Spinaway2Lloyd HughesR. Wyndham WaldenGeorge L. Lorillard5 F1:04.00

References