The United Nations Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in July at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey. The race is open to horses, age three and up, going one and three-eighths miles on the turf. A Grade I event, it currently offers a purse of $750,000. Until 2007, it was known as the United Nations Handicap.
Part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series, the winner of the 2008 United Nations Stakes automatically qualified for the Breeders' Cup Turf.
Founded in 1953 at the Atlantic City Race Course in Mays Landing, New Jersey, the race was set at a distance of 1 3/16 miles until 1999 when it was changed to 1 3/8 miles. The first edition was won in track record time by the Chilean bred, Iceberg II, who was trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Horatio Luro and ridden by Jorge Contreras.
From 1990 through 1997, it was known as the Caesars International. No race was held in 1998 and in 1999, it was shifted to Monmouth Park. In 2010, it will be in its 57th running.
Famous quotes containing the words united, nations and/or stakes:
“In the United States, it is now possible for a person eighteen years of age, female as well as male, to graduate from high school, college, or university without ever having cared for, or even held, a baby; without ever having comforted or assisted another human being who really needed help. . . . No society can long sustain itself unless its members have learned the sensitivities, motivations, and skills involved in assisting and caring for other human beings.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)
“I’ve noticed that the children of other nations always seem precocious. That’s because the strange manners of their elders have caught our attention most and the children echo those manners enough to seem like their parents.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.”
—William Empson (1906–1984)