Derby Prep Schedule

San Rafael Stakes

admin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:57:19 -0500

The San Rafael Stakes is run at Santa Anita Park, located in Arcadia, California. The race is a Grade III event at the one mile distance with a purse of $150,000 and is open to three-year-olds. Prior to 2005, the race was held in early March. Beginning in 2005, the race was moved to mid-January to offer a better fit to trainers to race in the Sham Stakes, the Robert B.

Lecomte Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:53:39 -0500

California Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:55:49 -0500

The California Derby is held in early March at Golden Gate Fields. An ungraded stakes, it's open to three-year-olds and is ran at one and one-sixteenth miles on the newly installed Tapeta surface. The Derby offers a purse of $150,000.

Robert B. Lewis Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:58:37 -0500

Unbeaten REFLECT TIMES (French Deputy), an impressive allowance winner at Santa Anita on December 28, will make his stakes debut in Saturday's $200,000 Robert B. Lewis S. (G2). Five juveniles will contest the 1 1/16-mile test over Santa Anita's Cushion Track.

Swale Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:59:30 -0500

Turf Paradise Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:04:34 -0500

The Turf Paradise Derby is a race for 3-year-olds held in February at Turf Paradise in Arizona. The Turf Paradise Derby is open to three-year-olds and is run at a distance of 1 1/16 miles on the dirt. The ungraded stakes now offers a purse of $100,000.

Risen Star Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:00:30 -0500

The Risen Star Stakes is run annually at Fair Grounds Race Course. It is open to three year old horses and is raced over a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt. A Grade III event, it offers a purse of $300,000. The race is considered a prep to the Louisiana Derby (GII,) and an official prep race for the Kentucky Derby (GI.)

San Vicente Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:05:20 -0500

The San Vicente Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Santa Anita Park. A Grade II event, the race is open to three-year-old horses and is ran at seven furlongs on the newly installed cushion track. The San Vicente carries a purse of $150,000.

Inaugurated in 1935 as the San Vicente Handicap, it was open to older horses until 1937.

Borderland Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:06:13 -0500

The Borderland Derby is a race for three-year-olds held in February at Sunland Park in New Mexico very near El Paso, Texas. The Borderland Derby is contested at 1 1/16-miles on the dirt. An ungraded stakes with a purse of $100,000, the Borderland Derby is a prep to the $600,000 WinStar Derby, itself a prep for the Kentucky Derby.

Sam F. Davis Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:07:02 -0500

The Sam F. Davis Stakes is a race held every February at Tampa Bay Downs in Tampa, Florida. It is open to three-year olds and often used as a prep race for the Tampa Bay Derby, itself a significant prep race for the Kentucky Derby. The race is 1 1/16th miles on dirt and offers a purse of $200,000. It is an ungraded race.

Southwest Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:10:23 -0500

The Southwest Stakes is a race held at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas in mid February during the President's Day weekend. The race is open to three-year-olds and contested at one mile on the dirt with a purse of $250,000. On November 28th, 2007, the ungraded Southwest Stakes was upgraded to a Grade III event by the American Graded Stakes Committee.

Fountain of Youth Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:11:37 -0500

The Fountain of Youth Stakes is run annually at Gulfstream Park at the beginning of March. A Grade II event open to three-year-olds willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt, it offers a purse of $350,000. It is the final stakes prep to the Florida Derby (GI) and is an official prep race for the Kentucky Derby.

John Battaglia Memorial Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:12:29 -0500

The John Battaglia Memorial Stakes is a race for thoroughbred horses held in early March at Turfway Park. The race is open to three-year-olds run at one and one-sixteenth miles on the polytrack. The race is an ungraded stakes with a purse of $100,000.

The race is a prep to the Lane's End Stakes, which itself is a prep for the Kentucky Derby.

Past winners:

Sham Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:13:23 -0500

The Sham Stakes is held annually at Santa Anita Park. This year, it will be conducted at 1 1/8 miles on the recently installed Cushion Track. An official prep race for the Kentucky Derby, the Grade III event is run in early March and offers a purse of $200,000.

Louisiana Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:15:19 -0500

El Camino Real Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:16:16 -0500

Gotham Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:16:59 -0500

The Gotham Stakes is ran in early March at Aqueduct Race Course in Queens, New York. A Grade III event with a purse of $250,000, it is set at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt.

Rebel Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:18:01 -0500

The Rebel Stakes is held annually in March at Oaklawn Park racetrack in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It currently offers a purse of $300,000 and is the second leg of the Oaklawn three-year-old stakes program, the first being the Southwest Stakes and the third the Arkansas Derby.

San Felipe Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:19:00 -0500

The San Felipe Stakes is run annually at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. The San Felipe is a Grade II event, and is normally held in mid-March, it is raced at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the newly installed Cushion Track.

Tampa Bay Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:20:23 -0500

WinStar Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:32:30 -0500

Rushaway Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:34:08 -0500

The Rushaway Stakes is a race held in late March at Turfway Park. The race is open to three-year-olds going one mile on the dirt. An ungraded stakes event, it offers a purse of $100,000.

Lane's End Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:33:26 -0500

The Lane's End Stakes is a race held in late March at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky. The race is open to three-year-olds going one and one-eighth miles on the polytrack. It is a Grade II Stakes race and currently offers a purse of $500,000.

Florida Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:35:14 -0500

The Florida Derby is held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida on the Saturday closest to the end of March or the first of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade 1 race is run at 1⅛ miles on the dirt for a purse currently set at $1,000,000.

U.A.E. Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:36:30 -0500

The UAE Derby is run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles on the dirt at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai. It takes place annually during the Dubai World Cup Night in late March.

Santa Anita Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:37:20 -0500

The Santa Anita Derby is run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. Inaugurated in 1935, it is considered the most important West Coast stepping-stone to the Kentucky Derby. Since its inception, six Santa Anita Derby winners have gone on to win the Kentucky Derby.

Wood Memorial

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:40:36 -0500

The Wood Memorial Stakes was first run in 1925. It was named to honor Eugene D. Wood, a New York State politician and horse racing enthusiast who had been a founder and past president of the old Jamaica Racetrack where the race was run until 1960.

Illinois Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:39:54 -0500

The Illinois Derby is held in early April each year. First run in 1923, the Derby takes place at Hawthorne Race Course located in Stickney/Cicero, Illinois, just west of Chicago.

It is a Grade II Stakes race offering a purse of $500,000.

Toyota Blue Grass Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:43:28 -0500

The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, currently sponsored by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is a Grade 1 race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in mid April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky.

Arkansas Derby

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:41:37 -0500

The Arkansas Derby is held in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Open to three-year-olds and conducted at 1 1/8 miles on the dirt, it offers a purse of $1,000,000.

The inaugural Arkansas Derby in 1936 offered a total purse of $5,000. The first winner was Holl Image, owned and trained by Jack Carter.

Holy Bull Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:42:42 -0500

The Holy Bull Stakes is held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Although this Grade III event offering a purse of $150,000 was a prep for the Florida Derby, the race will be held for the first time later on the racing calendar and at a new distance of 1 3/16 miles.

Coolmore Lexington Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:44:50 -0500

The Coolmore Lexington Stakes is held at the end of April (two weeks before the Kentucky Derby) at Keeneland Racecourse, it is a Grade II event with a purse of $325,000.

Originally the Lexington Stakes, named after either the great stallion Lexington or the city of Lexington, Kentucky, it's been sponsored by Coolmore Stud in Ireland since 1998 and its purse raised to its present level.

Derby Trial

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:47:08 -0500

Withers Stakes

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:50:11 -0500

KENTUCKY DERBY 134

merv — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:51:14 -0500