| Jockey Club Gold Cup |
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Information AboutJockey Club Gold Cup |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT JOCKEY CLUB GOLD CUP | |
| american graded stakes races | |
| open flat horse races ≈ 1¼ miles | |
| united states grade 1 stakes races | |
| united states horse races | |
The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a prestigious Thoroughbred Flat Race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It is typically the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park , just as the Belmont Stakes is of the spring meeting and the Travers Stakes is of the summer meeting at Saratoga . It has often been the event in which horses who have done well in a year's United States Triple Crown races first face older opponents on a weight-for-age basis. Despite its $750,000 purse and Grade 1 status, the stature of the race has suffered somewhat in recent years thanks to the emergence of the Breeders' Cup held not long afterward, as well as the race's shortening to the more common distance of 1¼ miles in 1990, making it a less unique test. The race was once run (1976 through 1989) at 1½ miles, but from 1921 through 1975 it was two miles long, second in distance only to the far less prestigious, 2¼-mile Display Handicap (among American stakes races during this period). From 1958 through 1974, except for 1962 and 1968, the race was held at Aqueduct Racetrack instead of Belmont. The past winners of the Gold Cup is a veritable who's who of award winning Hall Of Fame horses. Seven horses have won the race twice (including Triple Tiara winner, Shuvee ). Only one horse in history has won the Cup five times, and that was the great gelding Kelso . Perhaps the most memorable renewal was that of 1978, when Exceller defeated the previous year's Triple Crown winner, Seattle Slew , by a nose, with the 1978 Triple Crown winner, Affirmed , finishing fifth. WINNERS OF THE JOCKEY CLUB GOLD CUP EXTERNAL LINK |
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