Delaware Handicap
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The Delaware Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid July at Delaware Park Racetrack in Wilmington, Delaware. The Grade 2 race is open to fillies and mares, age three and up, willing to race one mile and three-sixteenths on the dirt.
Grade 2 race | |
Location | Delaware Park Racetrack Wilmington, Delaware, United States |
---|---|
Inaugurated | 1937 |
Race type | Thoroughbred – Flat racing |
Website | www |
Race information | |
Distance | 1+3⁄16 Miles (9+1⁄2 Furlongs) |
Surface | Dirt |
Track | left-handed |
Qualification | Fillies, Three-years-old and up |
Weight | Handicap |
Purse | US$500,000[1] |
The race was inaugurated as the New Castle Handicap as part of the racing schedule with the 1937 opening of Delaware Park Racetrack. In 1953, the new $100,000 purse offered by the New Castle Handicap made it the richest race in the world for fillies and mares.[2] In 1955 it was renamed the Delaware Handicap.
The race was held at Saratoga from 1982 until 1985.
In 2017, champion filly Songbird won as the shortest-priced favorite in the race's history at 1-9 odds.[3]
In 2023, Delaware Park management announced that the race would be shortened to 1+3⁄16 miles, citing difficulties in attracting top fillies and mares to run the 1+1⁄4-mile distance.[4]
In 1939, Shangay Lily won the race as a seven year old, and is the oldest winner of the race.