Thoroughbred racing was one of the first major sports in early America Horse racing thrived because it was a high status sport that attracted the interest of both old and new money It grew because spectators enjoyed the pageantry the exciting races and most of all the gambling As the sport became a national industry the New York metropolitan area along with the resort towns of Saratoga Springs New York and Long Branch New Jersey remained at the center of horse racing with the most outstanding race courses the largest purses and the finest thoroughbreds Riess narrates the history of horse racing detailing how and why New York became the national capital of the sport from the mid 1860s until the early twentieth century The sport s survival depended upon the racetrack being the nexus between politicians and organized crime The powerful alliance between urban machine politics and track owners enabled racing in New York to flourish Gambling the heart of racing s appeal made the sport morally suspect Yet democratic politicians protected the sport helping to establish the State Racing Commission the first state agency to regulate sport in the United States At the same time racetracks became a key connection between the underworld and Tammany Hall enabling illegal poolrooms and off course bookies to operate Organized crime worked in close cooperation with machine politicians and local police officers to protect these illegal operations In The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime Riess fills a long neglected gap in sports history offering a richly detailed and fascinating chronicle of thoroughbred racing s heyday

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