History
The event was established in 1979, and it was initially restricted to three-year-olds. The first edition was contested over 1 mile and 5 furlongs. It was shortened by two furlongs in 1980. It was cut by another furlong and opened to older horses in 1987.
The race was originally known as the Scottish Derby, but it was renamed the Scottish Classic in 1988. For a period it held Group 3 status. It reverted to its former title and was promoted to Group 2 level in 2003.
The Scottish Derby was last run in 2005. It was replaced the following year by a similar race, the York Stakes at York.
Over the course of twenty-seven runnings the event had several different sponsors. These included Mecca Bookmakers, Tennent's and the Daily Record.
Read more about this topic: Scottish Derby
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“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)