I'll Trade You My Funny Cide for Your Jean Cruguet

Trading cards and sports. An age-old tradition that has captivated the minds and wallets of collectors since the late 1880's, when small images of baseball players were placed in packs of cigarettes to boost sales. Most are probably familiar with these type of cards, most notably the 1909 T-206 Honus Waner. The T-206 Wagner is regarded as the most expensive and well-known trading card of all-time, and authentic versions of this incredibly rare card (only between 50-200 ever distributed to the public) routinely sell at auction for upwards of $750,000. But what you probably didn't know is that cards depicting your favorite horses and jockeys have been around for just as long.

While baseball cards were growing in popularity in the United States, cards commemorating top riders and owners were taking off across the Atlantic in Great Britain. This set, produced in 1906 by Ogdens, feature a relatively inexpensive market value - £2.70 (approx. $4.80US) a piece - and can generally be found on eBay and other popular collectible/auction websites. A subsequent set, produced in 1907 by the same company, was the first to portray thoroughbred legends, and included Europe's great horses from the turn-of-the-century including Cicero, Galopin, Diamond Jubilee, and Pretty Polly, amongst others. Similar cards were produced in Australia around the same time. Over the next few decades, Odgens produced similar cards in Europe, 25 and 50 card sets showcasing the winners of certain races and 'prominent racehorses of the present day.' An excellent 'Guide' (complete with pictures) to racing trading cards (1888-1933) has been created by eBay user creamofcards and can be found here.

As the popularity of cigarette-type cards dwindled, as did the number of horse racing-related cards. Several small sets of cards were produced over the next couple of decades, with nothing really achieving much collectability in the market.

Sportscaster, a mail-order-only sports card company produced a 48-card set of horse racing cards that encompassed all facets of horse racing, from racetracks to jockeys to famous horses. The full 48 card checklist and pictures of each card can be found here. The cards, produced from 1977-1979 feature thoroughbred staples such as Secretariat, Churchill Downs, Willie Shoemaker, the All-American Futurity, the Hambleton, and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. These cards were part of a larger set of 2,184 cards that covered every sport from baseball and football to bowling and sand yachting.

In 1991, the Jockey Guild produced a set of 220 cards called 'Jockey Star Cards.' The cards featured cards of many top riders, including Jerry Bailey, Ron Turcotte, Eddie Arcaro, Pat Day, Laffit Pincay, and Julie Krone, as well as your favorite local riders, such as Francisco Torres, Paul Toscano, Randy Meier, Tim Doocy, and Joe Judice. These cards were the closest in similarity to date of mainstream baseball, football, hockey, and basketball cards produced by industry megapowers like Topps, Bowman, and Upper Deck. These cards were marketed as being great for autographs and to get to know the riders better, but only managed minimal retail success. Complete 220-card sets are readily available on eBay for under $10. A full checklist can be found here and an image here. Jockey Star Cards were produced anually through 1998 with minimal success, but they did gain a small niche of the trading card market and offered racing fans a rare collectable.

As the trading card industry has constantly evolved, companies are constantly looking for ways to revamp and further differentiate their products. By the mid/late-1990s, companies were introducing 'autograph cards' and 'jersey cards' to the market. Autograph cards were randomly inserted into packs of cards at an extremely rare rate (perhaps 1 card per every 250+ packs) and featured cards hand-signed by the player depicted. Jersey cards featured swatches of actual game-worn jerseys. Next to come where cards that featured pieces of game-used baseballs/footballs, pads, and anything else conceivable. Heck, in 2001 Topps created a John F. Kennedy card with an actual piece of the Berlin Wall in it (photo here)!

What does this all have to do with horse racing? Well, with the increased amount of differentiation sought by manufacturers, some have began to create 'Sports Legends' sets, and in 2008 the Donruss company introduced its Sports Legends series. Amongst the set were cards featuring the jockeys of the last three Triple Crown winners - Steve Cauthen, Jean Cruguet, and Ron Turcotte. The set, which prides itself on bringing collectors autograph and jersey cards, featured hand-signed cards of that trio (available on ebay for no more than $5 each before shipping), as well as a Cauthen card that features an authentic piece of race-worn silks, and a rarer card that features the signatures of all 3 riders.

Images can be found here -

Steve Cauthen Autograph Card (individually numbered out of 1,236)

Jean Cruguet Autograph Card (individually numbered out of 1,103)

Ron Turcotte Autograph Card (individually numbered out of 1,370)

Steve Cauthen Race-Worn Silks Card (individually numbered out of 500)

So how does a company one-up that for racing fans? The Upper Deck Card Company figured it out. As part of its recently introduced 'Goodwin Champions' set, the company has inserted a subset of three very rare cards that should be well received by racing fans. The subset, 'Thoroughbred Hair Cuts' features an actual lock of hair of 3 recent American thoroughbred superstars - Afleet Alex, Funny Cide, and Smarty Jones. The cards, which are inserted at a rate of approximately one per case (a case being 12 hobby boxes, approx. retail price for a case is $899.99). Redemption cards are available on eBay for upwards of $50.

Afleet Alex Hair Card

Smarty Jones Hair Card

So where does the industry go from here? Personally, I'm not sure, but it's extremely exciting to see horse racing featured by national companies and in collectible formats.