[2] A race which regularly attracted many of the best horses of the day, it was won by such stars as future Hall of Fame inductees Imp and Peter Pan, the 1902 Champion Gold Heels, the 1903 Champion Africander whose six top wins that year included the Belmont Stakes, Suburban Handicap, Saratoga Cup, Lawrence Realization Stakes, and the winner of the 1905 Kentucky Derby and Tennessee Derby Agile.
[3][4] On June 11, 1908, the Republican controlled New York Legislature under Governor Charles Evans Hughes passed the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation.
[8] The Agnew–Perkins Law, a series of four bills and recorded as the Executive Liability Act, 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.
[9] After a 1911 amendment to the law that would limit the liability of owners and directors was defeated in the Legislature, every racetrack in New York State shut down.
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.