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As Saratoga Springs celebrates 150 years of thoroughbred racing, Liz O’Connell tells the tale of John Morrissey, an Irish immigrant who organized, operated and had the vision to develop what is now one of the world’s greatest racecourses. A scant month after the Confederate Army was pushed back at Gettysburg, the “swells” holidaying in Saratoga ....
John Morrissey By Liz O Connell, Contributor As Saratoga Springs celebrates 150 years of thoroughbred racing, Liz O’Connell tells the tale of John Morrissey, an Irish immigrant who organized, operated and had the vision to develop what is now one of the world’s greatest racecourses. A scant month after the Confederate Army was pushed back at Gettysburg, the “swells” holidaying in Saratoga Springs, New York, flocked to the first thoroughbred race meet contested on the Union Avenue trotting track. It was August 1863 and the meet lasted four days. One hundred fifty years later, hundreds of thousands of fans trek annually to the peerless Saratoga Race Course, across the road from the site of those first races, for six weeks of the finest racing in America. ....