The Withers Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds willing to compete one mile on the dirt. Held at Aqueduct Racetrack in February, it is a Grade III event, and offers a purse of $200,000. In 1956, the Withers Stakes was contested at a mile and a sixteenth.
The Withers was named for David Dunham Withers (1821–1892), an important owner/breeder who won this race in 1890 with his colt, King Eric.
The inaugural run of the Withers Stakes occurred in 1874 at Jerome Park Racetrack. It was raced there through 1889 after which it was hosted by the Morris Park Racecourse from 1890 through 1904, then Jamaica Racetrack in 1956, and at Belmont Park from 1957 through 1959 and 1984 through 1996. The Withers was not run in 1911 and 1912 due to a New York State legislated ban on all forms of wagering on horses. It was also not run in 2011, but it scheduled to return to the New York racing calendar on February 4, 2012.
Read more about Withers Stakes: Records, Winners of The Withers Stakes Since 1899, Earlier Winners, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words withers and/or stakes:
“In the weltering hell of the Moorooroo plain
The Yatala Wangary withers and dies,
And the Worrow Wanilla, demented with pain,
To the Woolgoolga woodlands
Despairingly flies.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.”
—William Empson (1906–1984)