The John C. Mabee Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race contested in early August at the Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. It is run on the turf for fillies and mares, age three or older, at a distance of one and one-eighth miles. Downgraded to a Grade II stakes in 2010, the John C. Mabee Handicap currently offers a purse of $250,000. Part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series, the winner of the 2010 race automatically qualifies for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
The race is named in honor of John C. Mabee (1921-2002), a three-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder as owner of Golden Eagle Farm and someone the New York Times Company's subsidiary About.com calls "a California racing icon." Through 2001 the race was known as the Ramona Handicap, in honor of Ramona, California where Mabee's breeding farm was located, and as the John C. Mabee Ramona Handicap in 2002.
It was first run in 1945 on dirt at a distance of one mile (8 furlongs), it was not contested again until 1959 when the distance was set at its current 1⅛ miles (9 furlongs). It was . It was run in two divisions in 1965, 1966, 1969 and was switched to the turf course in 1970.
In winning the 1971 race, Street Dancer set a new Del Mar course record then won again in 1972, breaking her own record.
Famous quotes containing the words john c, john and/or handicap:
“Sweet ladies, long may ye bloom, and toughly I hope ye may thole,
But was she not lucky? In flowers and lace and mourning,
In love and great honor we bade God rest her soul
After six little spaces of chill, and six of burning.”
—John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)
“Ambivalence reaches the level of schizophrenia in our treatment of violence among the young. Parents do not encourage violence, but neither do they take up arms against the industries which encourage it. Parents hide their eyes from the books and comics, slasher films, videos and lyrics which form the texture of an adolescent culture. While all successful societies have inhibited instinct, ours encourages it. Or at least we profess ourselves powerless to interfere with it.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“I have the handicap of being born with a special language to which I alone have the key.”
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)