The Duchess Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario that is open to three-year-old fillies. Held during the first part of August, it is contested over a distance of 7 furlongs on Polytrack synthetic dirt. It currently offers a purse of $150,000 with an additional $50,000 for Ontario-bred horses. Previously a Grade III race, it lost its graded status in 2006.
Inaugurated in 1956 at Fort Erie Racetrack, the Duchess Stakes has also been hosted by Toronto's Greenwood Raceway. Since inception the race has been run at various distances:
- 8.5 furlongs (1 1/16 miles) : 1956-1966 and 1970-1979 at Fort Erie Racetrack, 1967 at Greenwood Raceway, 1969 at Woodbine Racetrack, 1 1/16 miles; Fort Erie; main track
- 8 furlongs (1 mile) : 1968 at Greenwood Raceway
- 7.5 furlongs : 2006 at Woodbine Racetrack
- 7 furlongs : 1980-2005 and since 2007 at Woodbine Racetrack
Famous quotes containing the words duchess and/or stakes:
“That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call”
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)
“Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.”
—William Empson (1906–1984)