Death Drive: Racing Thrill for windows instal

Continuing an occasional series on lost tracks, this article explores the bygone circuits of the Bay Area. San Francisco and its environs grew to become a centre of Thoroughbred racing and breeding and the home of a succession of racecourses. Her decisive win in 1852 over prized Spanish stallion Sarco in a nine-mile contest captured the imagination of the West Coast, and prompted the importation of a stream of Thoroughbreds. Black Swan, as the mare was named, set racing in the Golden State on fire. The new arrival was, in fact, a horse, and the event has gone down in history as the entry of the first Thoroughbred into California.

Who was this émigré that drew such interest? It was no star of the stage, nor a great adventurer, nor a European royal. Tremulous and exhausted from the punishing voyage, the globetrotter was greeted by a large crowd. In December 1851, a tremulous and sickly traveller arrived at San Francisco harbour, having made a long and gruelling journey across the Pacific from Australia. Poster for the Ingleside Race Track, which opened in 1895 to a 12,000-strong crowd.

Death Drive: Racing Thrill for windows instal