The Suburban Stakes is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is now run at the 1+1⁄4 mile distance on dirt for a $350,000 purse (as of 2023).
Named after the City and Suburban Handicap in England, the Suburban had its 133rd running in 2019.
Inaugurated at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track in 1884, it was run there through 1910.[1] However, the 1908 passage of the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation by the New York Legislature under Republican Governor Charles Evans Hughes led to a state-wide shutdown of racing in 1911 and 1912.[2][3] A February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division saw horse racing return in 1913.[4] Nevertheless, it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay horse racing facility and it never reopened.[5][6] The race was picked up by the operators of Belmont Park where it was run in 1913. Not run the following year it was hosted by the Empire City Race Track in 1915 before returning to Belmont Park. It has remained there except for the races of 1961 to 1974 and 1976 when it was run at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The Suburban Handicap was contested at a distance of one and one half miles in 1975 and at a mile and three-sixteenths in 1976. Beginning in 1978, the race was started on Belmont Park's clubhouse turn. The event was renamed from the Suburban Handicap in 2017.
The race is the final of the three races that once composed the New York Handicap Triple series of races as it follows the Metropolitan Handicap and the Brooklyn Handicap. Four horses have won the Handicap Triple:
Whisk Broom II (1913)
Tom Fool (1953)
Kelso (1961)
Fit to Fight (1984)
The list of former winners is like a who's who of the race horse world, featuring some of American racing's greatest champions. The first mare to win the Suburban Handicap was the great Hall of Famer, Imp.
^"History of the Suburban" (PDF). New York Times. 1904-06-17. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
^"Penalties in the New York Bills". Daily Racing Form. 1908-01-18. Retrieved 2018-10-26 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
^"Race Track Bill Defeated In Senate; Measure Modifying Directors' Liability for Gambling Fails of Passage". The New York Times. July 14, 1911. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
^"Oral Betting Held Legal: Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court Renders Important Decision". Daily Racing Form. 1913-02-22. Retrieved 2019-06-29 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
^"Destruction Wrought by Hughes". Daily Racing Form. 1908-12-15. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
^"Famous Old Track is Sold". Daily Racing Form. 1914-11-17. Retrieved 2018-11-30 – via University of Kentucky Archives.
The SuburbanStakes is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older...
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held annually on Armed Forces Day, the third Saturday in May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore...
Stakes), run over 1+1⁄4 miles (2012 m) (now 1+1⁄2 miles (2414 m)) on a dirt track, at Belmont Park; Suburban Handicap (now run as the SuburbanStakes)...
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide...
Knickerbocker Stakes Man o' War Stakes Miss Grillo Stakes Mother Goose Stakes Ruffian Handicap Sands Point Stakes Sheepshead Bay StakesSuburbanStakes True North...
The 2023 Preakness Stakes was the 148th Preakness Stakes, a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 1+3⁄16 miles (10 furlongs;...
The 2024 Preakness Stakes was the 149th Preakness Stakes, a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 1+3⁄16 miles (9+1⁄2...
As a two-year-old, Beldame won the Great Filly Stakes at Sheepshead Bay Race Track and the Vernal Stakes (wiring the field). When Beldame was three, she...
Belmont Stakes. He first attracted attention when he set a track record winning the Tampa Bay Derby, but disappointed in the Blue Grass Stakes and Kentucky...
earned a purse check along with the number of starters in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing...
Belmont Stakes, he was also the champion older horse of 2000 after winning the Brooklyn, Suburban, Whitney Handicaps and the Woodward Stakes. Lemon Drop...
following a three-year-old campaign that included wins in the Preakness Stakes and Trenton Handicap, in which he defeated fellow Hall of Fame inductees...
a two-year-old. In 1975, at age three, he won the Flamingo Stakes and Wood Memorial Stakes before contesting the Kentucky Derby. Ridden by Jacinto Vásquez...
The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is nicknamed the "Midsummer...
The Messenger Stakes is an American harness racing event for 3-year-old pacing horses. It was organized in 1956 at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York...
highest total at only 11. Arcaro also won the Suburban Handicap eight times, the Wood Memorial Stakes nine times and the Jockey Club Gold Cup ten times...
in the Chesterfield Stakes at Newmarket. Starting as the 9/4 favourite he won easily by a length. He then won the Richmond Stakes carrying a 6-pound weight...
Mauler, who won the Wood Memorial Stakes in 1959; Never Bow, the Brooklyn Handicap winner in 1971; Hitchcock, the Suburban Handicap winner in 1972; Autobiography...
defeating 1989 American Horse of the Year Sunday Silence in the Belmont Stakes by eight lengths. Both horses were later voted into the American Hall of...
The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at...
United States and Canada that meet the graded stakes standards maintained by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders...
Global Information