Inaugurated 1986 Surface Dirt | Website www.laurelpark.com Purse 100,000 USD | |
Distance 1 ⁄8 miles (9 furlongs) |
The Harrison E. Johnson Memorial Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in March at Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland. It is open to three-year-olds and up and is run at 1 1⁄8 miles (nine furlongs) on the dirt. An ungraded stakes race, it offers a purse of $100,000.
The race was named in honor of African-American trainer Harrison E. Johnson, a Maryland-based trainer who died in 1985 at age 45 in a plane crash along with George F. Griffith while flying from Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York to Virginia. Johnson was piloting the plane. The native of Adelphi, Maryland, had been a trainer since the spring of 1969. His best race horse was Gutsy O'Shay, winner of the 1973 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga. That gelding was named Maryland-bred two-year-old champion in 1973.
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