The First Flight Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late June/early July at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. A Grade II event open to fillies and Mares, ages three and older, it is contested on dirt over a distance of seven furlongs.
The race is named in honor of Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney's American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly of 1946. First Flight won the Matron Stakes, and beat male opponents in winning the Belmont Futurity Stakes.
Inaugurated in 1978, the race has been hosted by Aqueduct Racetrack and Belmont Park:
- Aqueduct - 1978-1989, 1991-2002, 2004-2006
- Belmont - 1990, 2001, 2003, 2007-present
Famous quotes containing the words flight and/or handicap:
“Its shrill scream seems yet to linger in its throat, and the roar of the sea in its wings. There is the tyranny of Jove in its claws, and his wrath in the erectile feathers of the head and neck. It reminds me of the Argonautic expedition, and would inspire the dullest to take flight over Parnassus.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I have the handicap of being born with a special language to which I alone have the key.”
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)