The Peter Pan Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually during the second week of May at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. A Grade II event, it is open to three-year-olds willing to race nine furlongs on the dirt.
The race is run in honor of National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame inductee, Peter Pan.
Inaugurated in 1940, it was run as a handicap at one and one eighth miles until 1960 when the race was placed on hiatus. Revived at Aqueduct Racetrack in 1975, the Peter Pan Stakes was moved to Belmont Park for the 1976 running. It was contested at a distance of one mile until 1977 when it reverted to its traditional one and one eighth mile format.
Famous quotes containing the words peter, pan and/or stakes:
“Among them was a Bishop, who
Had lately been appointed to
The balmy isle of Rum-ti-Foo,
And Peter was his name.”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“When Pan sounds up his minstrelsy;
His minstrelsy! O base! This quill,
Which at my mouth with wind I fill,
Puts me in mind, though her I miss,
That still my Syrinx’ lips I kiss.”
—John Lyly (1553–1606)
“Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.”
—William Empson (1906–1984)