The Ashland Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early April at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It and the Ashland Oaks, the Kentucky Association racetrack's predecessor race, were named for Ashland, the homestead and breeding farm of statesman Henry Clay in Lexington, Kentucky. Restricted to three-year-olds fillies, the Grade 1 race is currently run at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles.
Part of the 1936 inaugural events for the new Keeneland Race Course, the first two editions of the Ashland Stakes were open to fillies and mares, 3-years of age and older. Not run again until 1940, it was then made a race exclusively for 3-year-old fillies. During World War II, from 1943 through 1945 the race was hosted by Churchill Downs in Louisville. The Ashland Stakes was run in two heats in 1952, 1965, 1974 and 1980. Don Brumfield is the only jockey to ever have won both heats. In the 1974 edition, Brumfield rode to victory on Winged Wishes, a horse owned by his mother, Viola, then took the second running aboard Darby Dan Farm's, Maud Muller. Since its inception, the Ashland Stakes has been raced at various distances.
Stakes Race | Grade | Purse |
---|---|---|
Transylvania Stakes | III | $100,000 |
Ashland Stakes | I | $400,000 |
Madison Stakes | I | $300,000 |
Maker's Mark Mile Stakes | I | $300,000 |
Shakertown Stakes | III | $100,000 |
Jenny Wiley Stakes | II | $200,000 |
Commonwealth Stakes | II | $175,000 |
Blue Grass Stakes | I | $750,000 |
Beaumont Stakes | II | $150,000 |
Appalachian Stakes | III | $100,000 |
Doubledogdare Stakes | III | $100,000 |
Ben Ali Stakes | III | $150,000 |
Lexington Stakes | III | $200,000 |
Bewitch Stakes | III | $150,000 |
Elkhorn Stakes | II | $150,000 |
Phoenix Stakes | III | $175,000 |
Darley Alcibiades Stakes | I | $400,000 |
Woodford Stakes | III | $100,000 |
Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes | II | $200,000 |
First Lady Stakes | I | $350,000 |
Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes | I | $600,000 |
Dixiana Breeders' Futurity Stakes | I | $400,000 |
Bourbon Stakes | III | $100,000 |
Juddmonte Spinster Stakes | I | $500,000 |
Jessamine Stakes | III | $150,000 |
Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes | I | $400,000 |
Sycamore Stakes | III | $100,000 |
Valley View Stakes | III | $150,000 |
Raven Run Stakes | II | $250,000 |
Fayette Stakes | II | $150,000 |