Champagne Stakes (United States)

The Champagne Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-old horses. The race is run at a distance of one mile on the dirt at Belmont Park in October each year. Although the race is open to both colts and fillies, in practice it is New York's premier race for two-year-old colts and fillies enter the Frizette Stakes instead.

The race is a Road to the Kentucky Derby Prep Season qualifying race. The winner receives 10 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby.[2]

The race is also a part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series. The winner automatically qualifies for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

The race was first run in 1867, and it is the oldest race of its kind in the United States. It was given the same name as the British Champagne Stakes which has been run annually since 1823 at the Doncaster Racecourse in South Yorkshire, England.

There was no Champagne Stakes run from 1910 through 1913, due to a legislated ban by the State of New York on parimutuel wagering, and no race was held in 1956.

Notable past winners who have gone on to success as three-year-olds or older include U.S. Triple Crown champions Seattle Slew, Count Fleet, and Secretariat however; Secretariat was disqualified from the race because of a questionable interference call which is still debatable today. Others such as Ben Brush, Colin, Sarazen, Alsab, Grey Lag, Buckpasser, Riva Ridge, Foolish Pleasure, Alydar, Spectacular Bid, and Easy Goer, all of whom are now in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Easy Goer ran the best Beyer Speed Figure performance (in the 1988 Champagne Stakes) by any 2-year-old since Beyer racing figures were first published.[3]

The 1880 winner was Lady Rosebery, a horse owned by August Belmont, Sr. and named to honor England's Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery whose family was prominent in British racing. Similarly, the 1950 winner was Uncle Miltie, a horse given the nickname of the famous comedian and New York City native, Milton Berle.

The inaugural running of the Champagne Stakes took place in 1867 at Jerome Park Racetrack prior where it remained through 1889. Shifted to the Morris Park Racecourse facility, it was held there through 1904. Moved to its present home at Belmont Park for the 1905 racing season, it was run at the Aqueduct Racetrack in 1959, from 1963 to 1967, and again in 1984.

Over the years, the Champagne Stakes has been raced over a variety of distances:

• Six furlongs : 1871–1889
• Seven furlongs : 1891–1904
• 165 feet short of seven furlongs (Widener Course) : 1905–1932
• Six and one-half furlongs (Widener Course) : 1933–1939
• One mile : 1940–1983, 1985–1993; 2005 to present
• One and one-eighth miles : 1984
• One and one-sixteenth miles : 1994–2004