[1] Although horse races (and betting on them) had enjoyed popularity in New York prior to the American Revolution, the sport fell out of favor in the northern part of country after the war, and was seen as fostering immoral behavior.

In 1802, the New York State legislature passed an "Act to Prevent Horse-Racing" and banned the sport altogether.

[2][3][4] In 1820, the "New York Association for the Improvement of the Breed of Horses" (NYAIBH) was founded by John Cox Stevens and Cornelius W. Van Ranst, among others, and successfully pushed to repeal the ban.

[3][5][6] Not coincidentally, NYAIBH had already purchased land in Jamaica on the western border of Queens with Brooklyn.

The first races were held on October 15, 1821, when Lady Lightfoot (from North Carolina) suffered one of her few losses to the famed American Eclipse.