History
The event was established in 1823, and it was originally open to horses of either gender. For a period it was contested over a mile, and it was shortened to 6 furlongs in 1870. It was extended to 7 furlongs in 1962, and restricted to male horses in 1988.
The Champagne Stakes is held during Doncaster's four-day St. Leger Festival, and it is currently run on the final day, the same day as the St. Leger Stakes.
The leading horses from the race sometimes go on to compete in the following month's Dewhurst Stakes.
Read more about this topic: Champagne Stakes (Great Britain)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“History, as an entirety, could only exist in the eyes of an observer outside it and outside the world. History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“No matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school history book.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1874–1945)