Brooklyn Stakes

The Brooklyn Stakes (formerly known as the Brooklyn Handicap) is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, on Long Island. It currently is a Grade II event open to four-year-olds and up willing to race one and one-half miles on dirt. It was a Grade 1 race prior to 1993.^[1]

First run on May 14, 1887, at Gravesend Race Track on Coney Island, New York, it was won by Emery & Cotton's Dry Monopole in track record time for the mile and one-quarter distance.^{[2] [3]} A versatile horse, a year earlier on June 15, 1886, Dry Monopole had won America's first ever Thoroughbred flat race on turf.^[4] The Brooklyn Handicap quickly became one of the top attractions on the New York racing circuit, drawing some of the best Thoroughbreds.^[5]

Not run 1911–1912 due to the New York's Hart–Agnew Law which banned parimutuel betting ^{[6] [7]}

The race was once the second leg of what is sometimes referred to as the New York Handicap Triple series of races. It was preceded by the Metropolitan Handicap and followed by the Suburban Handicap. Four horses won the Handicap Triple:

• Whisk Broom II (1913)
• Tom Fool (1953)
• Kelso (1961)
• Fit to Fight (1984)

The race is currently run on the same day as the Metropolitan Handicap, so it is no longer possible to win the Handicap Triple.

Since inception the race has been held at:

• Gravesend Race Track : 1887–1910
• Not run 1911–1912
• Old Aqueduct Racetrack : 1914–1944, 1946–1955
• Jamaica Race Course : 1956, 1958–1959
• Aqueduct Racetrack : 1960–1974, 1976, 2024–2025
• Belmont Park : 1957, 1975, 1977 to 2023, 2026–

The Brooklyn Handicap has been contested at a variety of distances:

• 1+1⁄8 miles : 1915–1939, 1994–2007
• 1+3⁄16 miles : 1956–1959, 1972–1974
• 1+1⁄4 miles : 1887–1914, 1940–1955, 1960–1971, 1975–1976
• 1+3⁄8 miles : 1991–1993, 2024–2025
• 1+1⁄2 miles : 1977–1990, 2008–2023, 2026–

Stakes record: (at current distance of 1+1⁄2 miles)

• 2:25.36 (2021) Lone Rock

Most wins:

• 3 – Discovery (1934, 1935, 1936)
• 3 – Forego (1974, 1975, 1976)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 6 – Eddie Arcaro (1944, 1947, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1961)

Most wins by a trainer:

• 7 – Sam Hildreth (1909, 1910, 1916, 1921, 1923, 1925)

Most wins by an owner:

• 5 – James R. Keene (1895, 1901, 1905, 1907, 1908)
• 5 – Greentree Stable (1943, 1944, 1953, 1958, 1963)

• Video of the 1904 Running of the Brooklyn Handicap

^[1]

• Graded stakes races in the United States
• Horse races in New York (state)
• Open middle distance horse races
• Gravesend Race Track
• Jamaica Race Course
• Belmont Park
• Horse races established in 1887
• 1887 establishments in New York (state)

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata