A new exhibit at the Queens Historical Society draws attention to the history of horse racing in the borough.
The Sport of Kings in Queens premiered Sunday at the Kingsland Homestead in Flushing.
The borough has been a major center of thoroughbred horse racing since 1667, when King Charles the Second established the first race course here.
Organizers say the exhibition details that 350-year history and its cultural, social and economic impact.
“Anything with that much history has a lot of other pieces of history along with it, the people and the places and history changes,” said the Historical Society’s Richard Hourahan. “And we like to show - I like to show - that evolution.”
“At one time, horse racing was the only legal gambling you could do, and times have changed,” added - Bob Curran, Jr. of the Jockey Club. “There's lotteries, Indian casinos, regular casinos, so we're competing for the entertainment dollar.”
The exhibit runs through June 30th. For more information, go to queenshistoricalsociety.org.