DWYER BROTHERS' SPORTING LEGACY LIVES ON IN NAMESAKE RACE

 

**Please see attached photo of the Dwyer Brothers' Hanover, courtesy of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame**

 

Thursday, May 6, 2010

 

Contact: Ashley Herriman

(718) 659-2244

aherriman@nyrainc.com

 

DWYER BROTHERS' SPORTING LEGACY LIVES ON IN NAMESAKE RACE

 

ELMONT, N.Y.  – Before it was the Dwyer, it was the Brooklyn Derby, a race inaugurated in 1887 at Gravesend Race Track and won that year by an undefeated 3-year-old named Hanover who had overpowered one opponent in the Belmont Stakes just five days earlier.

 

Of course, those were different times.

 

The 1880s marked the heyday of the Dwyer brothers, Mike and Phil, a pair of butchers from Brooklyn who parlayed their business acumen into horse racing and set up one of the most powerful stables of the era, winning the Belmont Stakes five times from 1883-1888, missing only in 1885.  Only two stables have won more runnings of the race than the Dwyer brothers – James R. Keene and Belair Stud, both with six. 

 

The Dwyers' success was founded on a simple premise: "In those days it was the fad for butchers to own fast horses," The New York Times wrote in 1906.  And so, they did.

 

Though they experimented with trotters when they first came to the business in 1874, the brothers quickly turned to thoroughbreds and found their first success with Rhadamanthus, a colt sold to them and bred by August Belmont.  Together, the brothers owned many legendary runners including the champion Hindoo, who won 18 consecutive races at three, including the 1881 Kentucky Derby, and never finished out of the top three in 35 career starts.  Hindoo sired the Dwyers' Hanover, who became the leading sire in the country when his racing career was finished. 

 

The Dwyer brothers also campaigned Kingston, a horse originally purchased "solely to prevent him from meeting and beating their beloved Hanover," Steve Michaels wrote in American Turf Monthly in 1977.  A wise investment, Kingston ran his record to an astonishing 89-33-12 from 138 starts.  The great filly Miss Woodford and frequent runaway winner Luke Blackburn carried the Dwyer colors as well. 

 

As profitable as they were together, the brothers' personality differences eventually forced the end of the partnership.  A notorious plunger, Mike Dwyer, "without moving a muscle of his face, would risk a fortune on the finish of a race, and win or lose with the same equanimity," read The New York Times obituary for the gambler.  Phil Dwyer, on the other hand, "was content to race horses for the sport…and was prosperous to the last," according to his New York Times death notice. 

 

The Dwyer brothers parted ways as business partners in 1890 and their 41-horse stable was divided at a sale on Nov. 5 of that year, with each man retaining some of the horses they had once owned together.  Both brothers were principal stockholders in old Aqueduct and Phil Dwyer also owned considerable interests in the Westchester Racing Association, the Brooklyn Jockey Club and the Queens County Jockey Club serving as president of the latter two.

 

Mike Dwyer died a destitute invalid at just 60 years old, on Aug. 19, 1906, at his home in Gravesend, Brooklyn.  Phil Dwyer took ill after exposure to the elements on a damp Belmont Park opening day on May 29, 1917.  The 73-year-old died of pneumonia on June 9, the day the Suburban Handicap was run at Belmont.  "This was the only Suburban Handicap that Mr. Dwyer had not seen since the race was instituted in 1884 [and when] news of his death was telephoned to the Belmont Park racetrack, [it cast] a gloom over the later races," according to the New York Times.

 

In 1918, the Brooklyn Derby was renamed the Dwyer in honor of the brothers and run at old Aqueduct from that year through 1955.  Over the intervening years, the race was run alternately at Aqueduct, Belmont and Jamaica over distances ranging from 1 3/16 miles to 1 ½ miles to its current distance of 1 1/8 miles.   

 

Arguably the most thrilling renewal in the race's history came in 1920, when John P. Grier nearly upset the great Man o'War in a two horse race, though the chestnut champion prevailed in the end.  For more on the history of the 1920 Dwyer, please visit Teresa Genaro's blog on BelmontStakes.com.  

 

Saturday's 93^rd running of the Grade 2 Dwyer has drawn a field of seven talented 3-year-olds, a sign that the Dwyer brothers' sporting legacy is alive and well in New York. 

 

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