Summer Stakes (Canada)
The Summer Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Contested on turf over a distance of 1 mile (8 furlongs), it is open to two-year-old horses. Raced in late September/early October, the Grade III event was a Grade II event but in 2006 was downgraded to its present Grade III status.
Part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series, the winner of the 2008 Summer Stakes automatically qualifies for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.
Inaugurated in 1953 at Fort Erie Racetrack as a sprint race on dirt, the Summer Stakes was moved to the turf in 1962. Since inception it has been run at various distances:
- 5 furlongs : 1953-1956 on dirt at Fort Erie Racetrack
- 5.5 furlongs : 1957-1960, 1961 on dirt at Fort Erie Racetrack
- 8 furlongs (1 mile) : 1962-1984 on turf at Fort Erie Racetrack, since 1985 on turf at Woodbine Racetrack
The race was run in two divisions in 1958, 1967, and 1969.
Read more about Summer Stakes (Canada): Records, Winners of The Summer Stakes
Famous quotes containing the words summer and/or stakes:
“The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.”
—William Empson (1906–1984)