The Demoiselle Stakes is a stakes race for thoroughbred horses open to two-year-old fillies who are willing to race the one and one-eighth miles on dirt. The Grade II event is run at Aqueduct Racetrack every November for a purse of $200,000.
Inaugurated in 1908 at the Empire City Race Track, the Demoiselle is one of the most important races for juvenile fillies, rivalling the Spinaway Stakes, the Oak Leaf Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, in picking the winner of the Kentucky Oaks.
The Demoiselle, named for the French word for young woman, was run at Empire City Race Track at its inauguration in 1908, then in 1910, 1914, and from 1917 to 1942. It then moved to Jamaica Racetrack from 1943 to 1953 and from there to Aqueduct. Since inception, the Demoiselle Stakes has been contested at various distances:
- 5.5 furlongs : 1908-1936
- 5.75 furlongs : 1936-1942
- 6 furlongs : 1943-1947
- 7 furlongs : 1958-1959
- 8.5 furlongs : 1948-1953
- 8 furlongs : 1963-1974
- 9 furlongs : 1975-present
Famous quotes containing the word stakes:
“This man was very clever and quick to learn anything in his line. Our tent was of a kind new to him; but when he had once seen it pitched, it was surprising how quickly he would find and prepare the pole and forked stakes to pitch it with, cutting and placing them right the first time, though I am sure that the majority of white men would have blundered several times.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)