Editing Pimlico Race Course (section)

==="The Great Race"===
On October 24, 1877, the [[United States Congress]] shut down for a day so its members could attend a horse race at Pimlico.<ref>{{cite web |title=Racing Irresistible Magnet |url=https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800|website=[[Daily Racing Form]] ([[Library of Congress]]) |access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref> The event was a 2½-mile [[match race]] run by a trio of champions: [[Ten Broeck (horse)|Ten Broeck]], [[Tom Ochiltree]], and [[Parole (horse)|Parole]]. 

Ten Broeck, the Kentucky champion, was owned by Frank B. Harper. Tom Ochiltree, the Eastern champion and winner of the 1875 Preakness Stakes, was owned by [[George L. Lorillard]], an heir to the [[Lorillard]] tobacco fortune. Parole, a gelding, was owned by [[Pierre Lorillard IV]]. Parole, with William Barrett up, prevailed with a late run, crossing the finish line three lengths ahead of Ten Broeck and six ahead of Tom Ochiltree, which had helped to set the early pace with Barbee in the irons. An estimated 20,000 people crowded into Pimlico to witness the event.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maryland Jockey Clubs Proud Boast: Operating Body of Pimlico Is Oldest of Kind in America |url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1940s/drf1948051501/drf1948051501_2_1 |website=[[Daily Racing Form]] ([[Library of Congress]]) |access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref>

The event is depicted in a four-ton stone bas relief—copied from a [[Currier & Ives]] print and sculpted in stone by Bernard Zuckerman—hanging over the clubhouse entrance at Pimlico. It is {{convert|30|ft}} long and {{convert|10|ft}} high and is gilded in 24-karat gold leaf.