Sheepshead Bay Handicap
| Grade IIT race | |
| Location |
Belmont Park Elmont, New York, United States |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1959 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred - Flat racing |
| Website | Belmont Park |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 1 3⁄8 miles (11 furlongs) |
| Surface | Turf |
| Track | Left-handed |
| Qualification | Fillies & Mares, four-years-old & up |
| Weight | Assigned |
| Purse | $200,000 |
Sheepshead Bay Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the end of May at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. A Grade II event contested on turf at a distance of 1 3⁄8 miles (11 furlongs), it is open to fillies and mares, four-years-old and up. Prior to 1962, it was open to horses of either sex.
The first Sheepshead Bay Handicap was a race run from 1894 through 1910 at the now defunct Sheepshead Bay Race Track at Sheepshead Bay, New York. It was revived at the Jamaica Racetrack in 1959 but following the closure of that facility, the race was shifted to Aqueduct Racetrack which hosted it from 1960 through 1974 and again in 1976.
Since inception, the revised edition of the Sheepshead Bay race has been contested at various distances and on both dirt and turf surfaces:
The Sheepshead Bay was run in two divisions in 1968, 1970, 1972, 1976 and 1982.
Speed record: (at current distance of 1 3⁄8 miles on dirt)
Most wins:
Most wins by an owner:
Most wins by a jockey:
Most wins by a trainer:
The original Sheepshead Bay Handicap was open to horses age three and older and was contested on dirt at a distance of one mile (8 furlongs). It was last run in June 1910 after the Republican controlled New York Legislature under Governor Charles Evans Hughes passed the Hart-Agnew anti-betting legislation on June 11, 1908. The owners of Sheepshead Bay Race Track, and other racing facilities in New York State, struggled to stay in business without betting. However, further restrictive legislation was passed by the New York Legislature in 1910 which resulted in the deepening of the financial crisis for track operators and led to a complete shut down of racing across the state during 1911 and 1912. When a Court ruling saw racing return in 1913 it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay facility and it never reopened.
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