Gold Cup at Santa Anita Stakes
| Grade I race | |
Lava Man winning the 2007 Gold Cup
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| Location |
Santa Anita Park Arcadia, California, USA 1938–2014 at Hollywood Park Racetrack Inglewood, California |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1938 as Hollywood Gold Cup |
| Race type | Thoroughbred – Flat racing |
| Website | www |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 1 1⁄4 miles (10 furlongs) |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Track | left-handed |
| Qualification | Three-year-olds and up |
| Weight | Handicap |
| Purse | $500,000 (2016) |
The Gold Cup at Santa Anita Stakes is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for horses age three and older over a distance of 1 1⁄4 miles on the dirt held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California in May. The race currently offers a purse of $500,000.
The race inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California as the Hollywood Gold Cup.
Hollywood Park Racetrack opened its doors on June 10, 1938, and Seabiscuit, under jockey George Woolf, won the $50,000 added race's inaugural running on July 16.
The race was not run in 1942 or 1943, due to Hollywood Park being closed and used as an airplane parts storage depot during World War II.
In 1949, the Hollywood Gold Cup, as well as the entire 1949 meeting, was held at Santa Anita Park, due to a devastating fire at Hollywood Park on the night of May 5, 1949. Solidarity won the 1949 running on July 16. The Hollywood Park grandstand was rebuilt and the facility reopened in time for a two-part split 1950 season. The 1950 Hollywood Gold Cup, won by Noor, was held in the second part or Fall–Winter part of the split, on December 9, 1950. The following summer, the race returned to its usual mid-July running and Citation, in his final race, won the Hollywood Gold Cup on July 14, 1951, becoming the first thoroughbred racehorse to hit the career earnings mark of one million dollars.
In 1980, Mary Lou Tuck became the first woman trainer to win the Hollywood Gold Cup with Go West Young Man.
In 1999, the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century was published, and fourteen horses on the list had won the Hollywood Gold Cup: Citation, Affirmed, Round Table, Cigar, Swaps, Seabiscuit, Skip Away, Gallant Man, Challedon, Ack Ack, Native Diver, Noor, Two Lea and Exceller.
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Wikipedia