The Southwest Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held at Oaklawn Park Race Track in Hot Springs, Arkansas in mid February during the President's Day weekend. The race is open to three-year-old horses willing to race one mile on the dirt and currently offers a purse of $300,000. On November 28, 2007, the ungraded Southwest Stakes was upgraded to a Grade III event by the American Graded Stakes Committee.
Inaugurated in 1968 as the Southwest Handicap, it was run at a distance of six furlongs from 1968 through 1983. The race was named in honor of the former NCAA football conference, the Southwest Conference in which the University of Arkansas was a member before leaving for the Southeast Conference. The race is often used as a prep to the Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby.
In 2013, the race was run at a distance of 1 and 1/16th miles.
The race's forerunner was the Southwest Purse, held in 1959 and 1962 and won by Call Hy and Killoqua, respectively.
It was run in two divisions in 1972 and 2002.
Read more about Southwest Stakes: Records, Winners of The Southwwest Stakes Since 1981, Earlier Winners, See Also
Famous quotes containing the word stakes:
“Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.”
—William Empson (1906–1984)