The Clark Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late November/early December at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Among the oldest races in the United States, it was first run in 1875, the year the racetrack opened for business. Currently a Grade I event, it is open to horses age three and older and is contested on dirt over a distance of 1⅛ miles (9 furlongs).
The race is named in honor of Colonel M. Lewis Clark, founder of the Louisville Jockey Club which built Churchill Downs.
Through 1901, it was restricted to three-year-old horses.
Since inception, the Clark Handicap has been run at various distances:
- 2 miles : 1875-1880
- 1 ¼ miles : 1881-1895
- 1⅛ miles : 1896-1901, 1922–1924, 1955–present
- 11/ miles : 1902-1921, 1925–1954
The race was run in two divisions in 1953.
Read more about Clark Handicap: Records, Winners of The Clark Handicap Since 1875
Famous quotes containing the words clark and/or handicap:
“The measure of your quality as a public person, as a citizen, is the gap between what you do and what you say.”
—Ramsey Clark (b. 1927)
“I have the handicap of being born with a special language to which I alone have the key.”
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)