Jamaica Handicap
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Jamaica Handicap is American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses run on the turf each fall at Belmont Park on Long Island, New York. Set at a distance of nine furlongs (one and one/eighth mile), it occasionally serves as a prep to either the Breeders' Cup Mile or the Breeders' Cup Turf, which is why it is now known as the Jamaica Breeders' Cup Handicap.
A Grade II event offering a purse of $300,000, it's named after the Jamaica District in Queens, New York. Jamaica was once the home of Jamaica Racetrack, which was closed in 1959 to become a housing development.
[edit] Past winners
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1952's winner, Tea-maker, finished first again in 1954, but was disqualified.
The Jamaica wasn't run from 1933 to 1935, in 1955 and 1956, from 1961 to 1975, nor in 1995 (due to severe weather conditions). It ran at the old Jamaica track from 1929 to 1959, then at Aqueduct Race Track in 1960, 1975 to 1977, 1979 to 1981, and 1987. Set at a distance of six furlongs from 1929 to 1953 and 1957 to 1960, then at a mile and a furlong in 1954, and from 1997 through the present.
Run for three-year-olds and up from 1929 to 1944, 1949 to 1953, and in 1960. It was run in two divisions in 1946, and as the Jamaica Stakes for fillies in 1975. It's been a turf race since 1994.
