The Bel Air Handicap was a Thoroughbred horse race run in mid July at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. Open to horses age three and older, it was contested on dirt at a distance of a mile and a sixteenth. In its final year it was a Grade III event [1] offering a purse of U.S.$$100,000.
First run in 1939, the Bel Air Handicap was not run again until 1968. From 1980 through 1982 there was no race run.
In 1997, winner Crafty Friend equaled the Hollywood Park track record for a mile and a sixteenth with a time of 1:40 flat.
| Year |
Winner |
Age |
Jockey |
Trainer |
Owner |
Time |
| 2001 | Smile Again | 6 | Laffit Pincay, Jr. | Ron McAnally | Sidney & Jenny Craig | 1:41.74 |
| 2000 | Euchre | 4 | Alex Solis | Robert J. Frankel | Frank Stronach | 1:41.76 |
| 1999 | River Keen | 7 | Chris Antley | Bob Baffert | Hugo Reynolds | 1:40.69 |
| 1998 | Free House | 4 | Chris McCarron | Paco Gonzalez | Toffan & McCaffery | 1:41.60 |
| 1997 | Crafty Friend | 4 | Alex Solis | Wallace Dollase | The Thoroughbred Corp. | 1:40.00 |
| 1996 | Cleante | 7 | Chris McCarron | Ron McAnally | Janis R. Whitham | nf |
| 1995 | Soul of the Matter | 4 | Gary Stevens | Richard Mandella | Burt Bacharach | 1:41.00 |