Excelsior Stakes

The Excelsior Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the first week of April at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. A Grade III event for three-year-olds and up, it is contested over a distance of one-and-one-eighth miles 9 furlong.^[1]

"Excelsior" is Latin for "Upward, ever upward," and is the motto of the state of New York.

In 1928, when Hall of Famer Grey Lag was ten years old, he came in third. He'd won this race as a five-year-old in 1923.

The race was run at the old Jamaica Racetrack from 1903 to 1910, and then again from 1915 to 1959. In 1913, it was run at Belmont Park. It wasn’t run at all in 1909, 1911, 1912, 1914, 1933, and 1967.

Since inception, the race has been contested at various distances and as initially a handicap as the race was known as the Excelsior Handicap:

• 1 ¹⁄₁₆ miles : 1903-1960
• 1 mile : 1960
• 1 mile, 1 furlong : 1961-1978
• 1 ¹⁄₈ miles : 1994–present
• 1 ¹⁄₄ miles : 1979-1993

Records

Speed record: (at current distance of 1 ¹⁄₈ miles)

• 1:48.10 - Classic Endeavor (2003)
• 1:48.10 - Magna Graduate (2007)

Most wins:

• 2 - King Saxon (1935, 1936)
• 2 - Find (1954, 1956)
• 2 - Lac Ouimet (1987, 1988)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 3 - Eric Guerin (1953, 1954, 1956)
• 3 - Angel Cordero, Jr. (1972, 1975, 1976)
• 3 - Bobby Ussery (1958, 1962, 1966)
• 3 - Chuck C. Lopez (1997, 2003, 2008)

Most wins by an owner:

• 3 - Rancocas Stable (1923, 1929, 1931)
• 3 - Alfred G. Vanderbilt II (1953, 1954, 1956)
• 3 - Sigmund & Viola Sommer (1972, 1977, 1980)

Winners

References