The Butler Handicap was an American

Thoroughbred horse race Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in ...

first run at Empire City Race Track in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as en ...

in 1935 as the Butler Memorial Handicap. The race was named in honor of Empire City Race Track owner James Butler who had died in 1934. Due to

wartime rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

regulations, in 1943 the race was moved to Jamaica Race Course in

Jamaica, New York Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springf ...

and would remain there until its cancellation in 1953.

Historical notes

The 1935 inaugural Butler Memorial was won by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Discovery. He was owned by Alfred Vanderbilt Jr. who would win this race three times, the most by an owner in its history. Other Butler Handicap winning horses who went on to have Hall of Fame careers were Assault,

Seabiscuit Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933 – May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-horse ...

, and

Stymie A stymie is an obsolete rule in the sport of golf. It legislated for the situation where a player's ball lay behind or blocked by another player's ball; the blocked player was not afforded relief. In the modern game, the blocking ball is temporar ...

. In 1942, Tola Rose pulled off a major upset in front of more than 34,000 racing fans when he beat 1941 U.S. Triple Crown winner

Whirlaway Whirlaway (April 2, 1938 – April 6, 1953) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the fifth winner of the American Triple Crown. He also won the Travers Stakes after his Triple Crown sweep to become the first and only horse to w ...

by four lengths. The win by Tola Rose set a new Empire City track record in what would prove to be the last time the race would be run at that facility. Hall of Fame jockey Johnny Longden won the 1944 Butler Handicap while riding with a broken foot and a back with two broken

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...

e. When Longden finally went to see a doctor about his extreme pain he was told he might never ride again. Six months later he was back in the saddle. Lucky Draw's win in the 1946 edition of the Butler Handicap marked the first of six track records he would set that year. The final running of the Butler Handicap took place on November 14, 1953 and was won by Quiet Step, a horse ridden by future Hall of Fame inductee Ted Atkinson for owner Bernard Heiman's Apheim Stable and trainer Kay Jensen.

Records

Speed record: * 1:55.00 - Loser Weeper (1950) @ 1 miles Most wins: * No horse ever won this race more than once. Most wins by a jockey: * 2 - Nick Wall (1938, 1939) * 2 - Robert Permane (1945, 1948) * 2 - Hedley Woodhouse (1946, 1952) Most wins by a trainer: * 2 - Bud Stotler (1935, 1936) * 2 -

Max Hirsch Maximilian Justice "Max" Hirsch (July 12, 1880 - April 3, 1969) was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Born in Fredericksburg, Texas, and raised Roman Catholic, Hirsch became one of the most successful trainers in Thorou ...

(1942, 1947) Most wins by an owner: * 3 - Alfred G. Vanderbilt Jr. (1935, 1936, 1950)

Winners

References

{{reflist Open middle distance horse races Discontinued horse races in New York (state) Empire City Race Track Jamaica Race Course Recurring sporting events established in 1935 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1953 1935 establishments in New York (state) 1953 disestablishments in New York (state)