History
The event was established in 1904, and it was originally called the Prix du Président de la République. It was initially contested at Maisons-Laffitte over 2,500 metres by horses aged three or older. It was abandoned throughout World War I, with no running from 1915 to 1918. It resumed at Saint-Cloud in 1919.
The race was cancelled once during World War II, in 1940. Its original title was discarded in 1941, following the end of the French Third Republic. The newly-named Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud was run at Longchamp (1941–42), Maisons-Laffitte (1943, 1945) and Le Tremblay (1944) before returning to Saint-Cloud in 1946.
The present system of race grading was introduced in 1971, and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud was classed at Group 1 level. It was cut to 2,400 metres in 1987, and closed to three-year-olds in 2005.
The Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud became part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series in 2011. The winner now earns an automatic invitation to compete in the same year's Breeders' Cup Turf.
Read more about this topic: Grand Prix De Saint-Cloud
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Most events recorded in history are more remarkable than important, like eclipses of the sun and moon, by which all are attracted, but whose effects no one takes the trouble to calculate.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
“In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)