Comely Stakes

The Comely Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. Run in mid-April, since 1960 it has been open to three year old fillies who are willing to race one mile on the dirt track. The race is a Grade III event with a current (2013) purse of $400,000 and has been a prep race to the Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing, including the Kentucky Oaks, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and Mother Goose Stakes. The American Graded Stakes Committee downgraded it to a Grade III race in 2010.

The race was named in honor of the filly Comely, who, in a remarkable performance as a two-year-old, defeated older male horses in winning the first running of the Fall Highweight Handicap in 1914.

Inaugurated in 1945 at Jamaica Racetrack, it was raced there through 1951 and again in 1959. For 1952 and 1953 it was hosted by the Empire City Race Track in Yonkers and Belmont Park in 1976, 1981, 1984, and again in 1985. There was no race run from 1954 to 1958.

Since inception, the Comely has been contested at a 1¹/16 miles for three-year-old fillies from 1945 through 1953 and again in 1993. In 1959, the race was restricted to two-year-olds and run as a five furlong sprint. From 1960 through 1990, it was run at seven furlongs.

In 2013 it was run at 1 1/8th mile.

The Comely was run in two divisions in 1953, 1963, and 1970.

Records

Speed record:

• 1-mile - 1:33.50 - Bella Bellucci (2002)
• 7-furlongs - 1:21.20 - Ruffian (1975)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 4 - Braulio Baeza (1962, 1963, 1967, 1970)
• 4 - Jorge Chavez (1995, 1996, 1998, 2004)

Most wins by an owner:

• 2 - Alfred G. Vanderbilt II (1951, 1953)
• 2 - Wheatley Stable (1960, 1970)
• 2 - William Haggin Perry (1963, 1964)
• 2 - George D. Widener, Jr. (1965, 1969)
• 2 - Diana M. Firestone (1980, 1981)
• 2 - Joseph Allen (1982, 1989)
• 2 - Bohemia Stable (1994, 1997)

Winners of the Comely Stakes since 1969

Earlier winners

See also

• Road to the Kentucky Oaks