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On Aug. 31, 1955, thoroughbred horseracing was the top spectator sport in the United States and on that date a two-horse race known as \u201cThe Great Match Race\u201d put Homewood and its Washington Park Racetrack in the winner\u2019s circle. The match-up was between Swaps, a West Coast horse that won the Kentucky Derby that year, and Nashua, an East Coast racer that finished the Derby a length behind Swaps but subsequently won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes and earned the \u201cHorse of the Year\u201d title.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Homewood Historical Society President Bob Anderson
will present the history of \u201cThe Great Match Race\u201d
at the organization\u2019s September meeting.
(Karen Torme Olson\/H-F Chronicle)<\/p>\n
On that day 70 years ago, more than 35,000 racing fans, reporters, and celebrities flooded Homewood and Washington Park to see the two horses and their elite jockeys (Eddie Arcaro on Nashua and Bill Shoemaker on Swaps) go head-to-head in a 1 \u00bc-mile race for a winner-take-all $100,000 purse. Millions of others watched on network TV.<\/p>\n
Seventy years later, at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 10, HHS President Robert (Bob) L. Anderson Jr<\/a>., will open the society\u2019s presentation series at the Homewood Public Library, 17917 Dixie Highway, with a retrospective of the race and a revelation of the celebrity and political \u201chorse trading\u201d that made it possible. Anderson will draw on his love of sports, extensive journalism and radio experience, and a deep knowledge of Homewood history to recall that day and the fascinating dynamic that put Homewood and Washington Park on the map.<\/p>\n Related story:<\/p>\n