Grade I race | |
Location |
Keeneland Race Course Lexington, Kentucky, United States |
---|---|
Inaugurated | 2002 |
Race type | Thoroughbred - Flat racing |
Website | www.keeneland.com |
Race information | |
Distance | 7 furlongs |
Surface | Dirt |
Track | Left-handed |
Qualification | fillies and mares, Four-years-old & up |
Weight | Assigned |
Purse | $300,000 |
The Vinery Madison Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early April at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky. Contested on dirt over a distance of seven furlongs, it is open to fillies and mares, age four and older. From 2006 to 2014, it was contested on a Polytrack artificial dirt surface. After the spring meet of 2014, the Polytrack was replaced by a new dirt surface.
Inaugurated in 2002 as the Madison Stakes, in 2005 the event was upgraded from a Listed race to Grade III status, then in 2006 to Grade II. In 2009 it became a Grade I event.
The race is named for Madison County, the largest county in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky. In 2004 the name of the race was amended to add the name of its new sponsor, Vinery, a local Thoroughbred breeding operation.