The Oak Tree Derby is a race for thoroughbred horses run at Santa Anita Park during the Oak Tree Racing Association meet each year. The Grade IIT event is open to three-year-old horses willing to race 1⅛ miles on the turf and offers a purse of $150,000.
The Oak Tree Derby was inaugurated in 1969 as the Volante Handicap, and was named for Lucky Baldwin's 1885 American Derby winner, Volante, who was rode to the finish line by jockey Isaac Burns Murphy.
In 1997 the Volante Handicap was renamed the Oak Tree Derby. It was run on the undercard of the Saturday Breeders' Cup card in 2008 and 2009.
Read more about Oak Tree Derby: Records, Winners of The Oak Tree Derby
Famous quotes containing the words oak and/or tree:
“When the red-cheeked, dancing girls, April and May, trip home to the wintry, misanthropic woods; even the barest, ruggedest, most thunder-cloven old oak will at least send forth some few green sprouts, to welcome such glad-hearted visitants.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 3:13-18.