The Haskell Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run over a distance of 1 + 1 ⁄ 8 miles on the dirt held annually in July at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey . The event is a signature event at Monmouth Park during their summer racing season and a major race for three-year-olds in between the U.S. Triple Crown series and the Breeders' Cup . The event currently offers a purse of US$ 1,000,000.
28-743: The inaugural running of the race was on 3 August 1968, closing day of the Monmouth Park summer meeting, as the Monmouth Invitational Handicap with a field of eleven horses. It was won by 33-1 longshot Balustrade, ridden by Canadian jockey Eric Walsh, in a time of 1:50 flat with favorite Iron Ruler finishing fourth. In 1973, when the American Graded Stakes Committee was founded by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association,
56-522: A $ 2.6-million prize, the then largest single purse in American racing history. That record stood for 19 years, until Smarty Jones won the 2004 Kentucky Derby. Because Spend a Buck skipped the last two legs of the Triple Crown, the Triple Crown races put up a bonus of their own to encourage participation in the series. Spend a Buck set a track record of 146.80 for a mile and an eighth in winning
84-688: A Buck (May 15, 1982 in Daviess County, Kentucky – November 24, 2002, in Brazil ) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1985 Kentucky Derby . Spend a Buck was sired by Buckaroo out of the dam Belle de Jour. Through his son Einstein (BRZ), he is now the primary source for the Buckpasser sire line in the United States. Spend a Buck is inbred 5x5 to Prince Rose and is line bred 5x8x8x6 to Man o' War, while his sire Buckaroo
112-690: A Buck's owner, Dennis Diaz, opted to skip the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes and thus trade Spend a Buck's chance to win the Triple Crown for a shot at the bonus . Cordero, Spend a Buck's regular jockey, was committed to another race that day, so Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. rode Spend a Buck at Garden State. Spend a Buck won the Jersey Derby by a neck over eventual Belmont winner Creme Fraiche , capturing
140-488: A crucial part of what was called the "Golden Triangle" of New Jersey racing. The "Golden Triangle" lost a leg on April 14, 1977, when a fire raged undetected at Garden State Park in the Colonial Room restaurant's kitchen during a racing program. Despite no functional firefighting system, the wooden grandstand lasted long enough to allow more than 11,000 patrons and employees to escape the inferno . At 4:45 p.m.,
168-537: A measure that possibly could have saved the Cherry Hill landmark. On May 3, 2001, 2,000 fans came to see the last racing program at Garden State Park. After 58 years, the Garden ran its last race. On October 30, 2003, with the property sold to Realen-Turnberry for a mixed-use 'town center' redevelopment, demolition started on the grandstand often referred to as a masterpiece. By late March 2004, all that remained of
196-526: A new $ 178 million steel and glass grandstand, which opened on April 1, 1985. The first race that day followed the schedule from the day the original track burned. The track, running night programs, provided racing for standardbred harness racing as well as thoroughbred racing . The grandstand also had on the Clubhouse level The Phoenix Room , which also served as a large banquet hall that hosted events year-round. On May 27, 1985, Eclipse Award for Horse of
224-555: A partnership, to build an Off Track Betting Parlor at the site of the former raceway near the lone standing entrance gate. On May 14, 2018, the United States Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 , paving the way for states to legalize sports betting. New Jersey's enabling legislation that regulates and taxes sports betting at casinos and racetracks will include
252-549: A successful post-racing career standing stud, siring 27 stakes winners with earnings of over $ 16 million. He died on November 24, 2002, at Haras Bage do Sul in Brazil following an anaphylactic reaction to penicillin . Legend – ₩ = Triple Crown winners, ♥ = Filly Garden State Park Racetrack Garden State Park was a harness and thoroughbred race track in Cherry Hill , Camden County, New Jersey . It
280-643: A wave of entertainment-oriented growth and development in the formerly rural community of Delaware Township, New Jersey (now Cherry Hill Township). Mori followed his achievement at the racetrack with the construction of the Cherry Hill Inn on the site of Abraham Browning's Cherry Hill Farm (at Route 38 and Haddonfield Road); and in 1967 the Cherry Hill Lodge, also on Route 38 to the east of the Cherry Hill Mall . Soon to follow in 1961
308-556: Is inbred 4x5 to Blue Larkspur and La Troienne. On May 4, 1985, Spend a Buck won the Kentucky Derby by 5-3/4 lengths over Stephan's Odyssey under jockey Angel Cordero Jr. His 2:00 1/5 time is the fourth fastest as of 2023. He paid $ 10.20, $ 5.40, and $ 3.40. It was his trainer Cam Gambolati 's first attempt to win the Derby, a feat not matched again until 2003 when Barclay Tagg saddled Funny Cide for his win. Earlier in
SECTION 10
#1732780889402336-402: Is now the site of a high-end, mixed-use "town center" development of stores, restaurants, apartments, townhouses, and condominiums. Garden State Park's 600 acre (≈1 square mile) land area is roughly bounded by Route 70 , Haddonfield Road, Chapel Avenue, and New Jersey Transit 's Atlantic City Rail Line . Garden State Park opened on July 18, 1942 after delays caused by raw material rationing at
364-457: The Amory L. Haskell Handicap with this event, giving it the name Haskell Invitational Handicap . Amory L. Haskell (1893–1966) was the former president and chair of Monmouth Park. In 1997, the purse for the race was increased to $ 1,000,000 and has remained at that level with two exceptions. In 2006, the race was changed from a handicap to allowance weight conditions, and the name was modified to
392-564: The Haskell Invitational Stakes . In 2002, the purse was increased to $ 1,500,000 due to the presence of War Emblem , winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. In 2015, the purse was increased to $ 1,750,000 as it featured American Pharoah in his first race since winning the Triple Crown . The 2015 running attracted a record New Jersey crowd of 60,983. In 2020, the race ceased to be an Invitational, and
420-681: The 1985 Monmouth Handicap (now known as the Philip H. Iselin Stakes), which stood for 37 years until broken in 2022. Spend a Buck was voted the 1985 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt. Several races were named for Spend a Buck, including the Spend a Buck Stakes at Monmouth Park and the Grade III Spend a Buck Handicap at Calder Race Course . Spend a Buck had
448-484: The Monmouth Invitational Handicap immediately was given the highest classification of Grade I. In the 1976, Majestic Light set a track record of 1:47 flat, winning by six lengths. The track record was broken by Spend A Buck in 1985. In 1987, Belmont Stakes winner Bet Twice won and equaled the stakes mark. In 1981, the board of directors of Monmouth Park Racetrack switched the name of
476-401: The United States' entry into World War II . Due to the seizure of 30,000 tons of structural steel by war authorities, developer Eugene Mori mostly constructed Garden State Park's ornate Georgian-style grandstand of wood. Limited amounts of steel came from the demolition of New York City's elevated railways. Despite this inauspicious start, 'the Garden,' as it was known, was officially 'out of
504-552: The Year winner Spend A Buck won the first Jersey Derby at the new Garden State Park, having earlier the same year won the Cherry Hill Mile and the Garden State Stakes, both at Garden State Park, and also the Kentucky Derby . The $ 2.6 million purse, including a $ 2 million bonus put up by Brennan for winning the four races, was the largest single purse in American racing history up to that point. One of
532-510: The annual races at Garden State Park Racetrack included: Garden State Park never re-acquired its glamorous past. Over sixteen years, the track suffered from the apathy of New Jersey horsemen and New Jersey state officials, and unrestrained competition from the Atlantic City casinos. The final straw came when Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman vetoed legislation that would have permitted slot machines at New Jersey racetracks,
560-433: The controversial tax breaks the facility enjoyed was a legislative loophole that allowed a near total exemption from what would have been high county property taxes because it was categorized as a "farm." It qualified for this special exemption because its operations generated horse manure that could be sold. The tax classification was allowed because the business "produced over $ 500 per year in agricultural products." Some of
588-593: The gate.' In its heyday, it would host some of the finest thoroughbred racehorses in the nation at the signature Jersey Derby . Its Garden State Stakes and the Gardenia Stakes offered some of the largest purses available for two-year-olds. Horses raced at Garden State Park included Whirlaway , Citation , and Secretariat on a cold, rainy Saturday afternoon in early 1972 in the Garden State Futurity . Garden State Park's success sparked
SECTION 20
#1732780889402616-742: The name was changed to simply the Haskell Stakes . The race has attracted many sponsors including Buick (1996−1998), Izod (2010), William Hill (2013−2015), betfair.com (2016−2018), and TVG.com (2019–2023). In 2024, NYRA Bets (the betting platform owned by the New York Racing Association ) became the title sponsor. Eleven winners of the Haskell have won championship honors at the Eclipse Awards as best three-year-old colt or filly. Five have also been named horse of
644-505: The racecourse was the original 1942 gatehouse on Route 70 . Garden State Park was redeveloped into separate retail and residential sections, owned by M & M Realty Partners. The retail section includes Costco , Wegmans , Home Depot , and Best Buy , and restaurants such as Five Guys Burgers & Fries , Panera Bread , Chick Fil-A , and Starbucks Coffee , The Cheesecake Factory , and Brio Tuscan Grille. There have been plans by Parx Casino and Racing and Penn National Gaming , in
672-421: The rubble, and one fire officer (John McWilliams) died of a heart attack on-scene. But, the next day, the vault with the previous days' "take" was opened, with the money intact; while outside on the track, horses continued to train. Despite the stables on the east side of the track remaining open for training, Garden State Park no longer held races until securities trader Robert Brennan financed construction of
700-573: The season, Spend a Buck had won two races at the newly reopened Garden State Park Racetrack in Cherry Hill, New Jersey : the Cherry Hill Mile Stakes on April 6 and the Garden State Stakes on April 20. Before the season began, Garden State Park owner Robert Brennan had put up a $ 2-million bonus to the horse that won the two April preparatory races, the Kentucky Derby, and the May 27 Jersey Derby , Garden State's signature race. Spend
728-408: The walls and massive roof overhang of the grandstand gave way to the flames and reduced the structure to a smoking ruin. Despite the flying embers nearly igniting The Rickshaw Inn across the street and the wooden barns and stables on the backstretch, the damage was contained to the massive grandstand complex. Three people died in the fire. One patron (Ed Bucholski) and one employee were later found in
756-570: The year in the year they won the Haskell. They are: Stakes record Largest winning margin Most wins by a jockey : Most wins by a trainer : Most wins by an owner: Notes: ƒ Filly or Mare † In the 2021 running Hot Rod Charlie was first past the winning post but was disqualified and placed seventh (last) for interfering in the stretch run clipping Midnight Bourbon who dislodged his rider Paco Lopez . Spend A Buck U.S. Triple Crown series: Kentucky Derby (1985) Spend
784-1031: Was the Cherry Hill Shopping Center (today's Cherry Hill Mall , the first enclosed shopping mall on the East Coast ) and the super-luxurious Rickshaw Inn with its gold-plated roof, which was situated on Route 70 opposite Garden State Park. Diagonally across Route 70 on the map in then-Delaware Township was the Latin Casino , adjacent to the Rickshaw and the Garden. This dinner nightclub hosted acts like Frank Sinatra , Dean Martin , Liberace , Cherry Hill Estates neighbors Al Martino & Frankie Avalon and more; before closing due to competition from casinos in Atlantic City . Followed later by Atlantic City Race Course and Monmouth Park Racetrack (1946), Garden State Park became
#401598