Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Clark Handicap

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Inaugurated
  
1875

Surface
  
Dirt

Website
  
www.churchilldowns.com

Location
  
Churchill Downs Louisville, Kentucky, United States

Race type
  
Thoroughbred - Flat racing

Distance
  
1 ⁄8 miles (9 furlongs)

The Clark Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November/early December 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  1 1⁄8 miles (9 furlongs).

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
  •  1 1⁄4 miles : 1881-1895
  •  1 1⁄8 miles : 1896-1901, 1922–1924, 1955–present
  •  1 1⁄16 miles : 1902-1921, 1925–1954

    • The race was run in two divisions in 1953.

    Records

    Speed record: (at current distance of  1 1⁄8 miles)

  • 1:47.39 - Premium Tap (2006)
    • Most wins
  • 2 - Hodge (1915, 1916)
  • 2 - Bold Favorite (1968, 1969)
  • 2 - Bob's Dusty (1977, 1978)
    • Most wins by a jockey
  • 4 - Isaac Burns Murphy (1879, 1884,1885, 1890)
  • 4 - Pat Day (1984, 1985, 1990, 2000)
    • Most wins by a trainer
  • 3 - Ben A. Jones (1942, 1946, 1951)
  • 3 - Smiley Adams (1977, 1978, 1979)
  • 3 - Bob Baffert (1996, 1998, 2014)

    • References

    Clark Handicap Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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