By the eve of the last century, the Suburban Handicap had already been run 15 times, a fixture at the old Sheepshead Bay track in Brooklyn, already established, according to The New York Times, as “one of the great Spring handicaps.”

That last 19th century renewal of the race was held on June 17, the cusp of summertime, attracting a field of 13 horses and an estimated 25,000+ spectators, none of whom could possibly have had any idea of what was in store for them that day.

Numerous newspaper accounts emphasized the “violence” of the betting, but it was nothing compared to the literal violence during the Suburban itself, as the crowd in the infield broke through the rail as the horses ran in the stretch.

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