The Bowling Green Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annualkly at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Raced on turf, the Grade II event is open to three-year-olds and up who are willing to race the one and three-eighths miles distance. Previously run in June or July, the Bowling Green is to be run for the 51st time on September 11, 2009.
In winning the Bowling Green Handicap on June 17, 1990 at Belmont Park, With Approval set a new World Record of 2:10.20 for 1 3/8 miles on turf. As of January 2009, the record remains unmatched.
Named for the area on the lower tip of Manhattan Island, the Bowling Green was raced at Aqueduct Race Track from 1963 to 1967. The 2008 edition was replaced in its summer spot by the Man o' War Stakes. The Man o' War was moved from a fall schedule to improve turf scheduling competition.
Since inception in 1958, the Bowling Green has been contested at various distances:
- 1¼ miles (10 furlongs) : 1977
- 1⅜ miles (11 furlongs) : 1958-1959, 1978-present
- 1⅝ miles (13 furlongs) : 1963-1967
- 1½ miles (12 furlongs) : 1960-1962, 1968-1976
Famous quotes containing the words green and/or handicap:
“On the green they watched their sons
Playing till too dark to see,
As their fathers watched them once,
As my father once watched me;”
—Edmund Blunden (1896–1974)
“I have the handicap of being born with a special language to which I alone have the key.”
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)