The Friends of the Sanford Stud Farm today (07-24) were to retrace by bus the annual trek that Amsterdam’s thoroughbreds made from Hurricana Farm (also known as the Sanford Stud Farm) to the Sanford stable on Nelson Avenue in Saratoga Springs.
Headed by former Sanford jockey Lou Hildebandt and his son Sam, the Friends are raising money to restore the remaining Broodmare Barn at the former horse farm on Route 30 in the town of Amsterdam.
Racing Hall of Fame trainer Hollie Hughes, who served three generations of Sanfords, recalled the annual trek walking the horses in Alex M. Robb’s book, “The Sanfords of Amsterdam.”
“First, we’d go up to Hagaman, a couple of miles away, and then we’d head for Top Notch, or West Galway, as it’s called,” Hughes said. “That would be about five miles. Then we’d go three miles straight east to Galway village. Then we’d go to West Milton, about seven miles farther east, and there we’d stop at the old Dutch Inn and feed the horses and men. My, those breakfasts tasted good! By that time it would be close to daylight. On the way over, half the horses would be under saddle with boys up. After breakfast the saddles were put on the others which had been led by the men up to this point, and we’d walk the remaining ten miles to Saratoga, coming in by Geyser Spring.”
In 1901, Sanford built his own stable on Nelson Avenue in Saratoga. He had as many as 35 horses at a time. When asked why he kept so many horses, the industrialist replied he was not in the horse raising business for “margin,” in other words for profit.
Author Robb, an official of the New York State Racing Commission in 1969 when he wrote his book about the Sanfords, said that Stephen Sanford started buying the property that would become Hurricana Farm in the 1870s after his doctor recommended he take up farming as a hobby to help with what may have been stomach ulcers. And Robb said that Sanford’s sons—John and William—also encouraged their father in this enterprise because of their own interest in fast horses, especially jumpers. William died in 1896.
From 1903 through 1907, the Sanfords invited the people of Amsterdam to the Sanford Matinee Races at Hurricana on the Sunday closest to Fourth of July. Trolleys ran continuously up to Market and Meadow Streets. From there, horse drawn wagons took people to the farm. Some automobiles went to the farm as well but were not admitted to the grounds. There was food, drink, music and, of course, horse racing. Some 15,000 attended the event during its last year.
New York State outlawed betting in 1907 and racing stopped at Saratoga. Temporarily, the Sanfords sold most of their horses to out-of-staters and Canadians, according to Robb.
Stephen Sanford was blind the last five years of his life. Born in 1826, he worked with his father John and then on his own to create the Sanford carpet mills. Stephen Sanford went to West Point, served in Congress and was a friend of Ulysses S. Grant.
Stephen Sanford died on February 13, 1913. Six months later, racing resumed at Saratoga along with the first running of the Sanford Memorial, named in honor of Stephen Sanford.
