Coronation Futurity Stakes

The Coronation Futurity Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old horses foaled in Canada. It is run annually in early November at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario at a distance of 1 1/8 miles on dirt. Along with its turf counterpart, the Cup and Saucer Stakes, the Coronation Futurity is the richest race for two-year-olds foaled in Canada.

Inaugurated in 1902 at Toronto's Old Woodbine Racetrack, it was created in celebration of the August 9, 1902 coronation of Edward VII of the United Kingdom.

The 1963 winner was Northern Dancer who would go on to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and become the most important sire of the 20th Century. Of note, his young jockey that day was future Canadian and U.S. Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte who, ten years later, would ride Secretariat to victory in the U.S. Triple Crown series.

Sunny's Halo won the 1982 edition of the Coronation Futurity and went on to win the following year's Kentucky Derby.

Since inception, the Coronation Futurity has been contested at a variety of distances:

  • 4 furlongs : 1902-1909 at Old Woodbine Racetrack
  • 4½ furlongs : 1909-1917 at Old Woodbine Racetrack
  • 5 furlongs : 1920-1926 at Old Woodbine Racetrack
  • 6 furlongs : 1927-1940 at Old Woodbine Racetrack
  • 1 mile : 1941-1948 at Old Woodbine Racetrack
  • 1 mile and 70 yards : 1949-1956 Old Woodbine Racetrack, 1957 at the new Woodbine Racetrack
  • 11/ miles : 1958-1960 at Woodbine Racetrack
  • 1⅛ miles : 1961 to present at Woodbine Racetrack

Read more about Coronation Futurity Stakes:  Records, Winners

Famous quotes containing the words futurity and/or stakes:

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    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)