Delaware Handicap

For the Saratoga Race Course horse race, see Delaware Handicap (Saratoga).
Delaware Handicap
Grade 2 race
LocationDelaware Park Racetrack
Wilmington, Delaware,
United States
Inaugurated1937
Race typeThoroughbred – Flat racing
Websitewww.delawarepark.com
Race information
Distance1+3⁄16 Miles (9+1⁄2 Furlongs)
SurfaceDirt
Trackleft-handed
QualificationFillies, Three-years-old and up
WeightHandicap
PurseUS$500,000[1]

The Delaware Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid July at Delaware Park Racetrack in Wilmington, Delaware. The Grade 2 race is open to fillies and mares, age three and up, willing to race one mile and three-sixteenths on the dirt.

The race was inaugurated as the New Castle Handicap as part of the racing schedule with the 1937 opening of Delaware Park Racetrack. In 1953, the new $100,000 purse offered by the New Castle Handicap made it the richest race in the world for fillies and mares.[2] In 1955 it was renamed the Delaware Handicap.

The race was held at Saratoga from 1982 until 1985.

In 2017, champion filly Songbird won as the shortest-priced favorite in the race's history at 1-9 odds.[3]

In 2023, Delaware Park management announced that the race would be shortened to 1+3⁄16 miles, citing difficulties in attracting top fillies and mares to run the 1+1⁄4-mile distance.[4]

In 1939, Shangay Lily won the race as a seven year old, and is the oldest winner of the race.

  1. ^ "Delaware Handicap (Gr. 2)". Equibase. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  2. ^ "First To Enter Racing Classic". The Morning Herald, Hagerstown, Maryland. 1953-03-25. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  3. ^ "Songbird Holds Fast in Delaware Handicap". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 2017-07-16.
  4. ^ "Delaware Handicap Shortened To 1 3/16 Miles; Track Plans 85 Live Racing Dates In 2023". paulickreport.com. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.