The Islip Handicap was an American

Thoroughbred horse race Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in ...

held annually from 1899 through 1907 at New York's

Brighton Beach Race Course The Brighton Beach Race Course was an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, opened on June 28, 1879 by the Brighton Beach Racing Association. Headed by real estate developer William A. ...

and then for a final time in 1910 with a drastically reduced purse at

Empire City Race Track Yonkers Raceway & Empire City Casino, founded in 1899 as the Empire City Race Track, is a one-half-mile standardbred harness racing dirt track and slots racino located at the intersection of Central Park Avenue and Yonkers Avenue in Yonkers, New ...

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

. A race for horses age three and older, it was contested on dirt over a distance of one mile for the first two runnings then at a mile and one-eighth for the remainder.

Historical notes

The filly

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won the 1899 inaugural running of the Islip Handicap. She would go on to earn recognition as that year's

American Horse of the Year The American Award for Horse of the Year, or simply Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to san ...

and induction into the U. S. Racing Hall of Fame in 1965. In winning the 1902 edition, Bonnibert broke the Brighton Beach track record for the mile and one-eighth with a time of 1:51 flat.

End of a race and of a racetrack

The Brighton Beach Race Course prospered until 1908 when the

New York Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an offici ...

passed the

Hart–Agnew Law The Hart–Agnew Law was an anti-gambling bill passed into law by the Legislature of the State of New York on June 11, 1908. It was an amalgam of bills enacted as Chapter 506 and 507 which were sponsored by conservative Assemblyman Merwin K. Har ...

banning gambling in

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

Motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

events were held at the facility in an attempt to keep the track from closing permanently but even after horse racing returned to New York it was too late to save the business. At the time it ceased horse racing operations, the Brighton Beach Race Course was the oldest horse track in steady use in the New York City area.

Records

Speed record: * 1:51.00 @ miles: Bonnibert (1902) (track record) Most wins: * No horse won this race more than once Most wins by a

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

: * No jockey won this race more than once Most wins by a trainer: * 2 – Thomas Welsh (1901, 1902) Most wins by an owner: * 2 – Charles Fleischman's Sons

Winners

References

{{reflist 1899 establishments in New York City Discontinued horse races in New York (state) Open mile category horse races Horse races established in 1899 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1911 Brighton Beach Race Course Empire City Race Track 1909 disestablishments in New York (state) Discontinued horse races in New York City