Pan American Stakes

The Pan American Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at the end of March at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Raced on turf over a distance of one and a half miles, the event is open to horses four years of age and older.

Inaugurated in 1962 as a race competed over one and one eighth miles, it was changed to its present one and a half mile distance in 1965. It has held various graded stakes race designations over the years, and currently has Grade III status.

Due to heavy rains, the 1975 race was shifted to the dirt track. It was run at a mile and a quarter on dirt in 1989 and again in 2009. In 1993, it was run at about a mile and a half on the turf course.

In 2013, Twilight Eclipse set a world record for 1 ¹⁄₂ miles by winning the Pan American in a final time of 2:22.63. This time lowered the world record mark set just one week earlier at Santa Anita Park by Bright Thought in the San Luis Rey Handicap.^[1]

Records

Time record: (at present distance of 1 ¹⁄₂ miles)

• 2:22.63 - Twilight Eclipse (2013)

Most wins:

• 2 - Fraise (1993, 1994), Buck's Boy (1998, 2000), Quest Star (2003, 2004)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 4 - Mike E. Smith (1991, 1994, 1996, 1999)

Most wins by a trainer:

• 6 - William I. Mott (1991, 1993, 1994, 2006, 2012, 2014)

Most wins by an owner:

• 2 - Quarter B Farm (1998, 2000), Mansell Stables (2003, 2004), Madeleine A. Paulson (1993, 1994), Bertram R. Firestone (1974, 1991)

Winners of the Pan American Handicap since 1973

A # designates that the race was run in two divisions in 1983.

References

• Pan American Handicap at the NTRA
• Pan American Handicap at Pedigree Query