Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Brooklyn Handicap

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Inaugurated
  
1887

Surface
  
Dirt

Brooklyn Handicap

Location
  
Belmont Park Elmont, New York, USA

Race type
  
Thoroughbred - Flat racing

Website
  
www.nyra.com/belmont/stakes/Brooklyn.html

Distance
  
1 ⁄2 miles (12 furlongs)

The Brooklyn Invitational Stakes (formerly known as the Brooklyn Handicap) is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, on Long Island. It currently is a Grade II event open to four-year-olds and up willing to race one and one-half miles on dirt. It was a Grade 1 race prior to 1993.

The race was once the second leg of what is sometimes referred to as the New York Handicap Triple series of races. It was preceded by the Metropolitan Handicap and followed by the Suburban Handicap. Four horses won the Handicap Triple:

  • Whisk Broom II (1913)
  • Tom Fool (1953)
  • Kelso (1961)
  • Fit to Fight (1984)

    • The race is currently run on the same day as the Metropolitan Handicap, so it is no longer possible to win the Handicap Triple.

    First run in 1887 at Gravesend Race Track on Coney Island, New York, the Brooklyn Handicap quickly became one of the top attractions on the New York racing circuit, drawing some of the best Thoroughbreds.

    Since inception the race has been held at:

  • Gravesend Race Track : 1887-1910
  • Not run 1911-1912 due to New York State ban on parimutuel betting
  • Old Aqueduct Racetrack : 1914-1944, 1946-1955
  • Jamaica Racetrack : 1956, 1958-1959
  • Aqueduct Racetrack : 1960-1974, 1976
  • Belmont Park : 1957, 1975, 1977 to present

    • The Brooklyn Handicap has been contested at a variety of distances:

  • 1 mile, 1 furlong : 1915-1939, 1994-2007
  •  1 3⁄16 miles : 1956-1959, 1972-1974
  •  1 1⁄4 miles : 1887-1914, 1940-1955, 1960-1971, 1975-1976
  •  1 3⁄8 miles : 1991-1993
  •  1 1⁄2 miles : 1977-1990, 2008 to present

    • Records

    Stakes record:

  • 2:26.00 - Nasty and Bold (1978)
  • 2:26.00 - Hechizado (1981)

    • Most wins:

  • 3 - Discovery (1934, 1935, 1936)
  • 3 - Forego (1974, 1975, 1976)

    • Most wins by a jockey:

  • 6 - Eddie Arcaro (1944, 1947, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1961)

    • Most wins by a trainer:

  • 7 - Sam Hildreth (1909, 1910, 1916, 1921, 1923, 1925)

    • Most wins by an owner:

  • 5 - James R. Keene (1895, 1901, 1905, 1907, 1908)
  • 5 - Greentree Stable (1943, 1944, 1953, 1958, 1963)

    • References

    Brooklyn Handicap Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA