This race is part of my family history - James Elkins, the superintendent of the Boston, Concord, and Montreal railroad, was the sponsor of the races and started them in 1852 - he is my great-great grandfather on my father's side. (More info
HERE.)
I would be interested in knowing more about this - my dad spoke about it and told some stories. I have a brother who has a lot of family history documents - I'll check with him on what he has on this...