The Flamingo Stakes 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 ...

for three-year-old horses run over a distance of a mile and one-eighth. Run as the Florida Derby until 1937, the inaugural event took place at Tampa Downs on February 27, 1926. There was no race in 1927 and 1928 but was revived in 1929 at

Hialeah Park Race Track The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East ...

Historical race notes

In 1937, Court Scandal won the first edition of the renamed Flamingo Stakes for owner Townsend Martin, an investment banker, polo player, and former part owner of the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

football team. With the introduction of the grading system for races in 1973, the Flamingo Stakes was given Grade I status which it held through 1989. Run in March or early April, for many years it was a very important early prep race for the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-yea ...

. Nine winners of this race went on to win the Derby: Lawrin (1938),

Faultless Faultless (foaled 1944 in Kentucky) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1947 Preakness Stakes. Background He was bred and raced by Calumet Farm. His dam, Unerring, was the 1939 American Co-Champion Three-Year-Old ...

(1947)

Citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...

(1948), Needles (1956),

Tim Tam Tim Tam is a brand of chocolate biscuit introduced by the Australian biscuit company Arnott's in 1964. It consists of two malted biscuits separated by a light hard chocolate cream filling and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate. H ...

(1958), Carry Back (1961), Northern Dancer (1964), Foolish Pleasure (1975),

Seattle Slew Seattle Slew (February 15, 1974 – May 7, 2002) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who became the tenth winner of the American Triple Crown (1977). He is one of only two horses to have won the Triple Crown while being undefeated in ...

(1977),

Spectacular Bid Spectacular Bid (February 17, 1976 – June 9, 2003) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1979 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and holds the world record for the fastest 1 1/4 miles on the dirt. He won 26 of his 30 r ...

(1979). In 1948,

won the Flamingo Stakes under regular jockey Al Snider. Six days later Snider drowned while out fishing in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

and Eddie Arcaro would replace him on Citation, going on to win the U.S. Triple Crown. The Flamingo Stakes was run in two divisions in 1952.

Chief's Crown Chief's Crown (April 7, 1982 – April 29, 1997) was an American-bred Thoroughbred race horse who won the 1984 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Two-Year-Old Male Horse. He later became a successful sire. Ba ...

finished first in the 1985 Flamingo Stakes but was disqualified to second. A successful appeal was reported by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' as "Racing officials in Florida redressed an injustice yesterday and made Chief's Crown the official winner of the Flamingo Stakes." Hialeah Park racetrack ran into financial problems and in 2001 the facility ceased racing operations.

Frank Stronach Frank Stronach (born 6 September 1932) is an Austrian and Canadian businessman and politician. He is the founder of Magna International, an international automotive parts company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, Granite Real Estate, and The ...

's Thunder Blitz won the final running of the Flamingo Stakes.

Records

Speed record: * 1:46.80 @ 1 1/8 miles :

Honest Pleasure {{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Honest Pleasure , image = , caption = , sire = What a Pleasure , grandsire = Bold Ruler , dam = Tularia , damsire = Tulyar , sex = Stallion , foaled = 1973 , country = United States , colour = Dar ...

(1976) Most wins by a

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

: * 4 – Eddie Arcaro (1942, 1944, 1955, 1957) * 4 – Jorge Velásquez (1967, 1978, 1986, 1988) * 4 – Jacinto Vásquez (1971, 1973, 1975, 1980) Most wins by a trainer: * 4 –

Ben A. Jones Benjamin Allyn Jones (December 31, 1882 – June 13, 1961) was an American thoroughbred horse trainer. Ben Jones was born in Parnell, Missouri, and attended Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri for high school. Jones went into the ...

(1938, 1939, 1947, 1948) Most wins by an owner: * 4 –

Calumet Farm Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of the Bluegras ...

(1947, 1948, 1958, 1978)

Winners

Note: : 1968 – Iron Ruler disqualified from first to second : 1962 – Sunrise County disqualified from first to third : 1958 – Jewel's Reward disqualified from first to second

References

{{Reflist Horse races in Florida Graded stakes races in the United States Discontinued horse races Hialeah Park Recurring sporting events established in 1926 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2001 1926 establishments in Florida 2001 disestablishments in Florida