Blue Hen Stakes

Blue Hen Stakes
Non-graded Stakes race
LocationDelaware Park Racetrack
Stanton, Delaware,
United States
Race typeThoroughbred - Flat racing
Websitewww.delawarepark.com
Race information
Distance1+116 miles (8.5 furlongs)
SurfaceDirt
Trackleft-handed
QualificationTwo-year-old fillies
WeightAssigned
Purse$75,000

The Blue Hen Stakes at Delaware Park Racetrack is an American Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-old fillies held annually in early October at Delaware Park Racetrack in Stanton, Delaware. A non-graded stakes event raced on dirt, since 2004 it has been contested at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles (8.5 furlongs).

The Blue Hen is named for the horse breeding term "Blue Hen," meaning a mare who has proved herself exceptional in producing high quality foals, almost regardless of which stallion might be the sire.[1] These sons and daughters would also affect the breed. An example of the highest sort of Blue Hen mare would be La Troienne.

In 1965 and 1971, the race was run in two divisions.

  1. ^ ""Blue-Hens" - The Best Broodmares in Recent Decades". The Racing App. 2016-01-18. Retrieved 2019-04-03.