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Pat Day
Patrick Alan "Pat" Day (born October 13, 1953, in Brush, Colorado) is a retired American jockey. He is a four-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. Day won nine Triple Crown races and 12 Breeders' Cup races. He was once the leader for career Breeders' Cup wins though he was later surpassed as the events were expanded after he retired. Pat Day retired in 2005 with 8,803 wins (ranked fourth all-time) and as the all-time leading jockey in money earned. He was a dominant rider on the Kentucky riding circuit and holds all of the career riding records at Churchill Downs and Keeneland. Day's signature wins include winning the inaugural $3 million Breeders' Cup Classic in 1984 aboard Wild Again and his partnership with Easy Goer in a rivalry with Sunday Silence. Technique Pat Day was known for being a patient rider with gentle hands and for n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Travers Stakes
The Travers Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is nicknamed the "Mid-Summer Derby" and is the third-ranked race for American three-year-olds according to international classifications, behind only the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. First held in 1864, it is the oldest stakes race in the United States specifically for 3-year-olds, and was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers. The race was not run in 1896, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1911, and 1912. The race is the highlight of the summer race meeting at Saratoga, just as the Belmont Stakes is the highlight of the spring meeting at Belmont Park. The purse was increased to $1,000,000 in 1999 and then to $1,250,000 in 2014. The purse for the 2015 renewal was increased to $1,600,000 due to the presence of Triple Crown winner American Phar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beldame Stakes
The Beldame Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares three-years-old and up. Inaugurated in 1939, it was run as a handicap prior to 1960. The race is held annually near the beginning of October at Belmont Park and currently offers a purse of $400,000. A Grade I event for most of its history, in 2019 it was downgraded to Grade II. On August 22, 2009, NYRA announced that the purse for the 2009 Beldame Stakes was increased to $1 million to attract a showdown between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta though ultimately neither horse entered the race. The race is named for the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame mare Beldame who raced between 1903 and 1905. During the 1904 season, she won 12 of 14 starts, beating the best colts of her time, and was voted the Horse of the Year honors. The first New York bred to win an Eclipse Award, Saratoga Dew, won this race in 1992. Run at miles since 1991, the Beldame has been set at various distances: * miles : 1939, 1990 * 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arkansas Derby
The Arkansas Derby is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles (9 furlongs) on dirt. In 2004, to celebrate its 100th anniversary, Oaklawn Park offered a $5 million bonus to any horse that could sweep its three-year-old graded stakes, the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby, and then take the Kentucky Derby. Smarty Jones's collected the bonus. The exposure from Smarty Jones subsequent run at the Triple Crown helped increase participation from the top three-year-olds in the country to the point where the American Graded Stakes Committee made the Arkansas Derby a Grade I race in 2010. Past winners of the race have gone on to win legs of horse racing's Grand Slam. Sunny's Halo won the 1983 Kentucky Derby, as did Smarty Jones in 2004 and American Pharoah in 2015. Elocutionist (1976), Tank's Prospect (1985), Pine Bluff (1992), S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suburban Handicap
The Suburban Stakes is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is now run at the mile distance on dirt for a $700,000 purse. Named after the City and Suburban Handicap in England, the Suburban had its 133rd running in 2019. Inaugurated at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track in 1884, it was run there through 1910. However, the 1908 passage of the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation by the New York Legislature under Republican Governor Charles Evans Hughes led to a state-wide shutdown of racing in 1911 and 1912. A February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division saw horse racing return in 1913. Nevertheless, it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay horse racing facility and it never reopened. The race was picked up by the operators of Belmont Park where it was run in 1913. Not run the following year it was hosted by the Empire City Race Track in 1915 before retu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whitney Stakes
The Whitney Stakes (run as the Whitney Handicap through 2013 and still sometimes referred to as such) is an American Grade 1 stakes race for Thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and older run at a distance of miles. The current purse is $1,200,000. Held annually in late July/early August at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York, the race is named for the Whitney family, whose members were and remain prominent participants and supporters of the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing. History The Whitney Stakes is administered by the New York Racing Association: Named after the family that for generations has had so much to do with racing at Saratoga, the Whitney Handicap was first run in 1928. The Whitney family’s involvement with thoroughbreds began when William Collins Whitney, one of the founders of The Jockey Club, began campaigning racehorses in 1898, bearing the familiar Eton blue-and-brown silks. His legacy was carried on by his son, Harry Payne Whit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Foster Handicap
The Stephen Foster Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three and older over a distance of miles on the dirt run annually in mid-June at Churchill Downs Spring Meet in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is named in honor of famed composer Stephen Foster, who wrote numerous melodies including " My Old Kentucky Home" which is the song that is annually played as the Kentucky Derby field parades on the track. History The Stephen Foster Handicap was inaugurated on 19 June 1982 as the Stephen Foster Handicap and has progressed from Grade III status in 1988 to Grade II in 1995 to Grade I in 2002. In 2019, it was downgraded to Grade II. In December 2022, it was announced that the race would return to Grade I status for the 2023 season. Currently offering a purse of $500,000, the race draws some of the top older horses from various parts of the United States. Since 2015 the event is a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" event, offering the winner a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple Blossom Handicap
The Apple Blossom Handicap is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares that are four years old or older, run under handicap conditions over a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt track held annually in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The 2022 running carried a purse of $1,000,000. History The race over the years has become the premier event for distaffers in the Spring, however its beginnings were inconsistent and were far from what we see today. Nonetheless, the inaugural running was on 21 March 1958, as the Apple Blossom Purse, for horses three-years-old or older over the current distance and was won by the three year old colt Count De Blanc in a time of 1:43. The event at that time was a preparatory event for the Arkansas Derby because in his next start Count De Blanc duly proceeded to win that event. The current preparatory event for the Arkansas Derby is the Rebel Stakes but that event was not first run until 1962. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballerina Stakes
The Ballerina Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares that are three years old or older over a distance of seven furlongs on the dirt track scheduled annually in August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The event currently carries a purse of $500,000. History The inaugural running of the Ballerina Stakes was 20 August 1979 and was won by the Ogden Phipps-owned three-year-old filly Blitey, who was ridden by the US Hall of Fame jockey Ángel Cordero Jr. on a muddy track in a time of 1:23. The race is named for Howell E. Jackson's filly, Ballerina, who won the 1954 inaugural running of the Maskette Stakes, run today as the Grade I Go For Wand Handicap. In 1981 the event was classified as Grade III, upgraded to Grade II in 1984 and to Grade I in 1988. The sudden rise in stature of the event was due to the quality of runners who won this event and continued to win important Grade I races. In particular the winner of the sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clark Handicap
The Clark Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Among the oldest races in the United States, it was first run in 1875, the year the racetrack opened for business. Currently a Grade I event, it is open to horses age three and older and is contested on dirt over a distance of miles (9 furlongs). It was known as the Clark Handicap through 2018 before the race conditions were changed to set weights and allowances in 2019. The race is named in honor of Colonel M. Lewis Clark, founder of the Louisville Jockey Club which built Churchill Downs. Through 1901, it was restricted to three-year-old horses. Since inception, the Clark Handicap has been run at various distances: * 2 miles : 1875–1880 * miles : 1881–1895 * miles : 1896–1901, 1922–1924, 1955–present * miles : 1902–1921, 1925–1954 The race was run in two divisions in 1953. Records Speed record: (at current distance of miles) * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Grass Stakes
The Blue Grass Stakes, currently the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes due to sponsorship by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is a horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky. The race is run at miles on the dirt and currently offers a purse of $1,000,000. The Blue Grass Stakes was a Grade I event from 1974 (when grading was first introduced) through 1989 and again from 1999 to 2016. It was a Grade II event from 2017-2021, and returned to a Grade I in 2022. It was named for the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, characterized by grass having bluish-green culms, which is known as the "heart" of the thoroughbred racing industry. First run at the Kentucky Association track in Lexington in 1911, the Blue Grass has, from its inception, served as an important prep for the Kentucky Derby. At the Lexington Association track, the Blue Grass was staged from 1911 through 1914 and from 1919 through 1926. The race was revived at Keeneland i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arlington Classic
The Arlington Classic Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for three year old horses over a distance of miles on the turf held annually in late May at Arlington Park race track near Chicago. History The event was inaugurated in 1929 as the Classic Stakes over a distance of miles on the dirt. At one time the Arlington Classic was one of the most important races in the United States, drawing the best 3-year-olds in the country. Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox attracted a crowd of 60,000 in 1930 and he continued his six race winning streak in the event. In 1932 when Gusto, a grandson of the great Man o' War won, it was then the richest race for 3-year-olds in America with a purse of $88,100. A noteworthy upset in the Arlington Classic occurred in 1946 when Assault, who had just won the United States Triple Crown, finished last. The Arlington Classic was run at the now defunct Washington Park Racetrack from 1943 through 1945. It was known as the Grand Pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
