Walden Stakes

Walden Stakes
Discontinued stakes race
LocationPimlico Race Course
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Inaugurated1906-1948
Race typeThoroughbred - Flat racing
Race information
Distance11⁄16 miles (8.5 furlongs)
TrackDirt, left-handed
QualificationTwo-years-old

The Walden Stakes is a discontinued Thoroughbred horse race run from 1906 through 1948 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Raced on dirt, the event was open to two-year-olds horses of either sex.[1][2] The race was named in honor of Maryland-based trainer and owner Wyndham Walden, a Hall of Fame inductee who won eleven American Classic Races, capturing the Preakness Stakes seven times and the Belmont Stakes four times.[3]

For the first three years the Walden Stakes was contested at a distance of six furlongs, but because it was run in November it was changed in 1909 to one mile so that the year's top class juvenile horses would be tested at a longer distance with a view to their upcoming three-year-old season when races at a mile and longer would be commonplace.[4] Among those top class two-year-olds who won the Walden Stakes were U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductees Reigh Count (1927) and his son Count Fleet (1943), Whirlaway (1940), and Alsab (1941).[5] Reigh Count went on to win the 1929 Kentucky Derby, Alsab finished second in the 1942 Kentucky Derby, and both Whirlaway and Count Fleet won the U.S. Triple Crown series.[6] In addition, the 1930 Walden Stakes winner Mate went on to win the 1931 Preakness Stakes.[7]

Race distances:

  • 1 1/16 miles : 1928-1948
  • 1 mile : 1909-1927
  • 6 furlongs : 1906-1908

In 1923, the Walden Stakes was run in two divisions.[8]

  1. ^ "Orphan Lad Wins the Walden Stakes". Daily Racing Form at University of Kentucky Archives. 1906-11-06. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
  2. ^ "Stone Age In Walden Stakes Win". The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio, Page 55. 1948-11-12. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
  3. ^ "R. W. Walden". Racingmuseum.org. 1970. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
  4. ^ "Pimlico Stakes Real Test: Pimlico Futurity and Walden Victory Indicates Winners Class". Daily Racing Form. 1938-10-01. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  5. ^ "National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame - Horses". Racingmuseum.org. 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
  6. ^ "Triple Crown winners". CBS Sports. 2018-06-10. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
  7. ^ "Preakness Stakes History from Survivor to Hill Prince". Daily Racing Form at University of Kentucky Archives. 1951-05-19. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
  8. ^ "Winners of Walden: Rancocas Stable Captures the First Division with Stanwix. Senator Norris Carries the Kenton Stable Silks to Victory in the Second Division". Daily Racing Form. 1923-11-11. Retrieved 2018-10-21.