Alysheba Stakes
Grade II race | |
Location | Churchill Downs Louisville, Kentucky, United States |
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Inaugurated | 2004 |
Race type | Thoroughbred - Flat racing |
Website | www |
Race information | |
Distance | 1+1⁄16 miles (8.5 furlongs) |
Surface | Dirt |
Track | left-handed |
Qualification | Three-year-olds and up[1] |
Weight | Assigned |
Purse | US$400,000 (2015) |
The Alysheba Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. The Alysheba became the most recent addition to the Derby Week stakes lineup as it joined the schedule in 2004 and is currently run on the undercard of the Kentucky Oaks, the day before the Kentucky Derby. It was the first stakes to join the Derby Week lineup since 1997. The event is named for the talented 1987 Kentucky Derby winner and United States Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Alysheba, who returned to the Downs in 1988 to win the Breeders' Cup Classic. His victory marked the first time a Derby winner had returned to Churchill to win a stakes since Whirlaway took the 1942 Clark Handicap. He was later honored at the track that fall as he retired as the sports leading money earner, $6,679,242. The stakes received graded status in 2007. The Grade II event is open to horses age three and older[1] and is contested on dirt over a distance of 1+1⁄16 miles (8.5 furlongs).
Records
- Speed record
- 1+1⁄16 miles - 1:41.04 - Successful Dan (2012)
- Most wins by a jockey
- 3 - John Velazquez (2004, 2005, 2015)
- Most wins by a trainer
- 2 - Todd Pletcher
Winners since 2004
Notes:
† new stakes record/new track record
References
- ^ a b Asher, John (May 2, 2008). "Alysheba Recap". Churchill Downs Communications. Churchill Downs Incorporated. Retrieved January 26, 2015.