History
The event was established in 1849, and it was originally called the National Produce Stakes and then the National Stakes. The inaugural running was won by Chatterbox.
For a period the National Stakes was classed at Group 2 level, and it was promoted to Group 1 in 1985. It was extended from 7 furlongs to a mile in 1997, but its former distance was restored in 2000.
The race became known as the Vincent O'Brien National Stakes in 2009, in memory of the successful trainer Vincent O'Brien (1917–2009). It reverted to its previous title in 2011 but was renamed the Vincent O'Brien Stakes in 2012.
The National Stakes was formerly part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series, with the winner earning an automatic invitation to compete in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. It was removed from the series in 2012.
Read more about this topic: National Stakes
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Books of natural history aim commonly to be hasty schedules, or inventories of God’s property, by some clerk. They do not in the least teach the divine view of nature, but the popular view, or rather the popular method of studying nature, and make haste to conduct the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)