Shared Belief Stakes

The Shared Belief Stakes (formerly the El Cajon Stakes) is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually during the last week of August or the first week of September at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. Open to three-year-old horses, the non-graded stakes is contested at a distance of one mile (8 furlongs) on the dirt. The purse is currently $100,000.[1]

The race is named for champion Shared Belief, whose major wins included the 2014 Pacific Classic at Del Mar.[2] It was previously named for the city of El Cajon, California.

Inaugurated in 1973, the race was run as a restricted overnight stakes until 2004. The distance was set at one and one eight miles in 1973 and 1974, then reduced to a mile and a sixteenth from 1975 through 1996 after which it was set at its current distance of one mile. From 2008 to 2015, the race was run on Polytrack synthetic dirt surface – all other renewals have been on a natural dirt surface.

The race was not run in 1994 and 2001.