Illinois Derby
Grade III race | |
Location | Hawthorne Race Course Stickney/Cicero, Illinois, U.S. |
---|---|
Inaugurated | 1923 |
Race type | Thoroughbred - Flat racing |
Website | www |
Race information | |
Distance | 1+1⁄8 miles (9 furlongs) |
Surface | Dirt |
Track | Left-handed |
Qualification | Three-year-olds |
Weight | 122 lbs (55.3 kg) |
Purse | $250,000 (2017) |
The Illinois Derby is a race for Thoroughbred horses for three year olds run over a distance of one and one-eighth miles (9 furlongs) on the dirt at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney/Cicero, Illinois, just west of Chicago in early April each year. The event was first run in 1923 at the Hawthorne Race Course. The purse is $250,000.
History[]
The race was named in honor of the home state in which it was run, the state of Illinois. The inaugural running of the race took place at Hawthorne in 1923 and was won by , the 3 year-old champion with Zev that year. The race was then run at Sportsman's Park from 1924 through 1931. It moved to Aurora Downs racetrack in 1932 and was run there until 1938. In 1939 the race went on hiatus until through 1962. Then the race was revived at Sportsman's Park Racetrack again in 1963 where it remained through its 2002 running. The race was not run 1939-1962 and 1970-1971.
The race was first graded in 1973 when the grading system started as a grade three stakes race and in 1997 was elevated to a grade two stakes race. The inaugural running of the race in 1923 was run at 1+1⁄4 miles.
Prior to 2000 the race was run between the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes thus competing with the second leg of the Triple Crown for good runners. Beginning in 2001, the Illinois Derby was moved to four weeks prior to the Kentucky Derby and instantly become a major Triple Crown prep race.
The 2002 Illinois Derby won by War Emblem was the last Derby run at Sportsman's Park Racetrack. War Emblem went on to become a "Dual Classic Winner" by winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. War Emblem helped elevate the prestige of the Illinois Derby by displaying that a race winner could go on to even bigger glory.
In 2004 also helped increase the stature of the race when he won it. Pollard's Vision was a colt who was blind in his right eye, he was named in honor of Seabiscuit's jockey Red Pollard, who also lost sight in his right eye.
In 2006 Sweetnorthernsaint, the Illinois Derby winner that year, helped the stature of the race after recording the highest beyer speed figure of the year in the race and was installed as the morning line favorite in the Kentucky Derby. Sweetnorthernsait went on to become the Preakness Stakes runner up to Bernardini in the race where Barbaro was fatally injured.
In 1997, at Sportsman's Park, set the record for the fastest time in the Illinois Derby at 1:47.51.
It had been a Grade II race with an offering a purse of $500,000, however it was reduced to a Grade III race for 2010 by the American Graded Stakes Committee.[1] Since that time. For 2012, the purse has been reinstated to $500,000, but reduced to $400,000 in 2015.
Winners since 1968[]
Year | Winner | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
Time | Purse$ | Gr. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Race not run | |||||||
2020 | Race not run | |||||||
2019 | Race not run | |||||||
2018 | Race not run | |||||||
2017 | Multiplier | American Equistock | 1:47.98 | $250,000 | III | |||
2016 | Race not run[2] | |||||||
2015 | Martin A. Pedroza | Bob Baffert | Karl Watson, Michael E. Pegram, Paul Weitman | 1:50.82 | $400,000 | III | ||
2014 | Miguel Mena | Mark E. Casse | John C. Oxley | 1:49.07 | $750,000 | III | ||
2013 | Brian Hernandez Jr. | Albert Stall Jr. | Claiborne Farm | 1:50.78 | $750,000 | III | ||
2012 | Done Talking | Skeedattle Stable | 1:53.88 | $500,000 | III | |||
2011 | Joe Vann | Florent Geroux | Todd Pletcher | 1:51.91 | $300,000 | III | ||
2010 | American Lion | David Flores | Eoin G. Harty | WinStar Farm | 1:51.31 | $500,000 | III | |
2009 | Musket Man | Eibar Coa | Eric Fein & Vic Carlson | 1:49.91 | $500,000 | II | ||
2008 | Recapturetheglory | Louie J. Roussel III | Louis J. Roussel III & Ronald Lamarque | 1:49.01 | $500,000 | II | ||
2007 | Cowtown Cat | Fernando Jara | Todd A. Pletcher | WinStar Farm | 1:51.21 | $500,000 | II | |
2006 | Sweetnorthernsaint | Kent Desormeaux | Michael Trombetta | Joseph J. Balsamo & Ted Theos | 1:49.82 | $500,000 | II | |
2005 | Greeley's Galaxy | Kent Desormeaux | B. Wayne Hughes | 1:49.62 | $500,000 | II | ||
2004 | Pollard's Vision | Eibar Coa | Todd A. Pletcher | Edgewood Farm | 1:50.80 | $500,000 | II | |
2003 | Ten Most Wanted | Pat Day | Wallace Dollase | James Chisholm, J. Paul Reddam, Michael Jarvis | 1:51.47 | $500,000 | II | |
2002 | War Emblem | 1:49.42 | $500,000 | II | ||||
2001 | Distilled | Mike E. Smith | Todd A. Pletcher | Dogwood Stable | 1:51.37 | $500,000 | II | |
2000 | Performing Magic | Shane Sellers | The Thoroughbred Corp. | 1:50.86 | $500,000 | II | ||
1999 | Vision and Verse | William I. Mott | W. Bruce Lunsford | 1:48.47 | $500,000 | II | ||
1998 | Yarrow Brae | Willie Martinez | D. Wayne Lukas | Michael Tabor & Susan Magnier | 1:51.21 | $500,000 | II | |
1997 | Wild Rush | Kent Desormeaux | Richard Mandella | Frank Stronach | 1:47.51 | $500,000 | II | |
1996 | Natural Selection | Randy Romero | Mohamed Moubarak | Buckram Oak Farm (Mahmoud Fustok) | 1:48.60 | $500,000 | III | |
1995 | Peaks and Valleys | Julie Krone | James E. Day | Pin Oak Stable | 1:48.99 | $500,000 | III | |
1994 | Rustic Light | Earlie Fires | Phillip Brooks & Robert Hale | 1:51.89 | $500,000 | III | ||
1993 | Antrim Rd. | Aaron Gryder | Alyce & Joseph Novogratz | 1:48.68 | $500,000 | III | ||
1992 | Dignitas | Jerry D. Bailey | John Peace | 1:49.09 | $533,500 | III | ||
1991 | Richman | Jerry D. Bailey | William I. Mott | William F. Lucas | 1:49.36 | $530,000 | III | |
1990 | Dotsero | Aaron Gryder | J. Malkin, B. Glazov, et al. | 1:50.60 | $315,000 | III | ||
1989 | Music Merci | Gary Stevens | Harvey & Thea Cohen | 1:50.20 | $515,000 | III | ||
1988 | Proper Reality | Jerry D. Bailey | Robert E. Holthus | Mrs. James A. Winn | 1:50.20 | $535,000 | III | |
1987 | Gene St. Leon | Wendover Stable | 1:49.60 | $313,550 | III | |||
1986 | Bolshoi Boy | Richard Migliore | Howard M. Tesher | Art Belford & John Greathouse | 1:52.20 | $315,000 | III | |
1985 | Important Business | LeRoy Jolley | Ilene & Skip Taylor | 1:51.60 | $320,000 | III | ||
1984 | Delta Trace | Robert J. Frankel | Ann & Jerry Moss | 1:51.80 | $210,000 | III | ||
1983 | Gen'l Practitioner | William Blair | 1:50.40 | $210,000 | III | |||
1982 | Star Gallant | Ray Sibille | 1:52.60 | $210,000 | III | |||
1981 | Paristo | Robert & Ruth Feinberg | 1:49.60 | $155,000 | III | |||
1980 | Ray's Word | Smiley Adams | Not found | 1:52.00 | $155,000 | III | ||
1979 | Smarten | Sam Maple | Woody Stephens | Ryehill Farm (Jim & Eleanor Ryan) | 1:49.40 | $150,000 | III | |
1978 | Batonnier | Harry Trotsek | Edward Seltzer | 1:51.60 | $105,000 | III | ||
1977 | Flag Officer | George J. Getz | Chuck Schmidt & Philip Teinowitz | 1:52.20 | $105,000 | III | ||
1976 | Life's Hope | Sandy Hawley | Laz Barrera | Harbor View Farm | 1:51.40 | $125,000 | III | |
1975 | Colonel Power | Harvey Peltier Sr. | 1:50.20 | $105,000 | III | |||
1974 | Sharp Gary | Edward R. Scharps | 1:50.00 | $105,000 | III | |||
1973 | Big Whippendeal | Larry Adams | Kinship Stables | 1:50.20 | $75,000 | III | ||
1972 | Fame And Power | Harvey Peltier Sr. | 1:50.00 | $70,000 | ||||
1971 | Race not run | |||||||
1970 | Race not run | |||||||
1969 | King of the Castle | Braulio Baeza | Edward A. Neloy | Ogden Phipps | 1:51.40 | $80,000 | ||
1968 | Bold Favorite | Del W. Carroll | Michael G. Phipps | 1:50.20 | $75,000 |
Earlier winners[]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Two Fewer Graded Stakes in 2010
- ^ Paulick Report Staff (25 February 2016). "Hawthorne: Illinois Derby, Sixty Sails Likely Dropped From Spring Schedule". Paulick Report. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
External links[]
- 1923 establishments in Illinois
- Horse races in Illinois
- Hawthorne Race Course
- Flat horse races for three-year-olds
- Triple Crown Prep Races
- Graded stakes races in the United States
- Recurring sporting events established in 1923