Inaugurated 1954 Surface Dirt | Website www.laurelpark.com | |
Distance 1 ⁄8 miles (9 furlongs) | ||
The John B. Campbell Handicap is an American thoroughbred horse race run annually at Laurel Park Racecourse, in Laurel, Maryland, United States. Run in mid-February, 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 purse is $100,000.
Contents
Honoree and inaugural
The race was named for John Blanks Campbell, an internationally noted racing secretary and the handicapper who set the annual Experimental Free Handicap weights, who died at age 77 on July 7, 1954. The inaugural edition of the John B. Campbell race was run on December 4, 1954, as the John B. Campbell Memorial Handicap at Bowie Race Track.
After the inaugural running, the race was set for the spring of each year beginning in 1955. From 1986 until 2001, it was held at Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, and was raced at a distance of 1 3⁄16 miles.
In his book Legacies of the Turf, prominent racing historian Edward L. Bowen says that at one time the John B. Campbell Handicap was a race of national importance. During the mid-1950s and 1960s the race was won by outstanding horses such as Sailor, Dedicate, Mongo, and the great U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Kelso.
Records
Speed record:
Most wins by an horse:
Most wins by a jockey:
Most wins by a trainer: