Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap

Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap

The Saratoga Breeders’ Cup Handicap was, until it was discontinued in 2005, a Thoroughbred race for horses three-years-old and up run at Saratoga Race Course. A Grade II event, it was set in 1995 at one and one quarter miles on the dirt and offered a purse of $250,000.

This race is now known as the Ballston Spa Handicap and is restricted to fillies and mares.

Before its discontinuation by the New York Racing Association (NYRA) (fearful of bankruptcy and therefore cutting back on purses or the entire elimination of certain races), the Saratoga Breeders’ Cup had run for 87 years.

That year the NYRA also eliminated the Astarita, the Valley Stream, the Flash Stakes, the Cowdin Stakes, the Huntington, the Lawrence Realization Stakes (which moved to Belmont Park), the Belmont Breeders' Cup and the Meadowbrook Steeplechase.

Kentucky won the first two runnings of this race. His half-brother Tom Ochiltree won it in 1876. Parole won it twice: 1877 & 1878. Roamer won it in 1915. Friar Rock won it in 1916. And Exterminator won it four years in row: 1918 through 1921. Busanda won it twice: 1951 and 1952, as did Stymie in 1945 and 1946.