Buried Treasure

Target Parking Lot Hides A Golden Past

Funerals are nothing new at Riverside and Broadway.

Four cemeteries near the intersection have welcomed local residents into eternity since 1849. But who knew one of Sacramento’s monumental early sports figures was buried across the street, under the Target store parking lot?

It’s true. This tomb contains no ordinary athlete. Buried at least 6 feet down near the middle of the parking lot is Yolo King, also known as the Big Horse With the Gold Tooth. He was among the best California thoroughbred racehorses ever.

My friend Bill Conlin was obsessed with Yolo King, though he never saw the horse run. Bill was the city’s most celebrated sportswriter during a 60-year career that began in 1937. He was the perfect scribe to chronicle an epic animal whose accomplishments soared into the hazy mists. Bill wrote Yolo King’s story a dozen times for the Union and Bee. veterinarian. He hired the best dentist in town and ordered bridgework.

Yolo King tore up local racetracks for two decades in the early 1900s. Conlin loved local history and sporting lore. He knew ancients who watched Yolo King trounce opponents by absurd margins. Those geezers reminisced for Bill.

Conlin had an exceptional memory, but didn’t trust himself to remember every nuance, especially after long afternoons in the Hereford House bar, today’s Riverside Clubhouse, down the street from Target. When he wanted to get something exactly right, he produced a stubby pencil and made notes on a saloon napkin.

In early days of the 20th century, three local race tracks kept sports fans busy. The fanciest track was Union Park, near 23rd and F streets. Woodland and Davis had race facilities. Yolo King was unbeatable everywhere.

Success had a downside for Ed Kripp. As much as he loved to win, he was a degenerate gambler who often lost. Yolo King wasn’t a gamble. He was a sure thing. But to make a reasonable profit while betting on his glorious horse, Kripp had to wager massive sums for minuscule returns. Supreme confidence generates short odds.

Here’s how Conlin reconstructs the scene: “‘This is a great horse,’ Kripp is believed to have directed his doctor of dentistry, ‘and for purposes of mastication on his hay and oats, he shall have nothing but the best. I want him to have a gold tooth.’”

Years later, when Yolo King died, the owner’s sorrow demanded a unique ceremony. Kripp hauled the horse to Buffalo Park on Broadway at Riverside, instructed crews to dig a deep hole around home plate, and laid to rest Yolo King, the Big Horse With the Gold Tooth.

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