#ROTHSTEIN BOARDWALK EMPIRE SERIES#

#ROTHSTEIN BOARDWALK EMPIRE SERIES#

At the conclusion of a whirlwind series of events, Rothstein walked away with $450,000 on top of the $10,275 winner’s share of the purse (more than $5.8 million in 2018 terms).Īt the ’21 Travers, Harry Payne Whitney’s superb filly, Prudery, was widely regarded as a sure bet. He owned some horses, manipulated races, cashed enormous bets and drew the ire of August Belmont II and The Jockey Club for his presence at the track.īut one of his most nefarious plots occurred in 1921, when Rothstein masterminded a major betting coup on the Travers Stakes with the colt Sporting Blood, one of his own, thanks to some valuable inside information and an assist from a trainer and horse that didn’t even participate in the race. Turns out Rothstein was a player in the racing game for a time, and Saratoga was one of his playgrounds. On occasion, Boardwalk Empire made reference to Saratoga Springs, and when one of the scenes featured Rothstein in the stable area at an unidentified racetrack with Hall of Fame trainer Max Hirsch, I had to know more about Rothstein’s connection to the sport and the Spa City.

The series showcased the historical-fiction-y likes of Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, but my favorite was the cerebral Arnold Rothstein, known as “The Big Bankroll.” I knew of Rothstein for his alleged role as the architect of the 1919 World Series fix, better known as the “Black Sox Scandal.” What I didn’t know was that Rothstein had his hands in Thoroughbred racing as well. Set in the 1920s, the show featured several of the Prohibition Era’s most notorious gangsters, gamblers and bootleggers, who were looking to strike it rich in some corrupt industry, all the while avoiding prison time (and enemy gunfire). A few years ago, I was obsessed with the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.

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