| Ungraded race | |
| Location | Golden Gate Fields Albany, California, United States |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1976 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred - Flat racing |
| Website | www |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 1+1⁄16 miles |
| Surface | Turf |
| Track | Left-handed |
| Qualification | Three-year-old Cal-breds |
| Weight | Weight-For-Age |
| Purse | $100,000 |
The Silky Sullivan Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run each year (until recently in March, then on November 5, and now in April) at Golden Gate Fields in the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for the "Heart Attack Horse," the great closer Silky Sullivan, the race was a mile and an eighth, or 9 furlong Grade III turf race——run on grass——with a purse of $100,000 which it has retained. It is open to males or females three years of age, and runs at a distance of a mile and a sixteenth.
It is now restricted to California breeds and is no longer graded.
The race was inaugurated in 1976. Over the years its racing date has often changed due to various track schedulings. For the past few years, racing in northern California has been in a state of uncertain flux, which, for a time, forced Golden Gate Fields to cease its fall schedule. This caused the Silky Sullivan Handicap to be in temporary hiatus. The Silky Sullivan returned on May 2, 2009, the same day the Kentucky Derby was run at Churchill Downs.
Silky Sullivan died in 1977, one year later than the race in his name began, and is buried in the infield at Golden Gate Fields. The only other horse so honored is the great Lost in the Fog who died of cancer in 2006.