Champlain Handicap
The Champlain Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race for horses age three and older first run in 1901 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Placed on hiatus in 1945, it was revived in 1954 at Jamaica Racetrack as a sprint race restricted to fillies and mares. The race was discontinued after the 1957 running.
| Discontinued stakes race | |
| Location | Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, New York, Belmont Park, Jamaica Racetrack, |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1901 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred - Flat racing |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 6 furlongs (3/4 mile) |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Track | left-handed |
| Qualification | Three-year-olds and up |
Historic notes
The first running of the Champlain Handicap took place on August 27, 1901.[1]
On August 29, 1907 Dandelion won the Champlain Handicap for the second straight year. He would be the only horse to ever win the race more than once.[2]
In winning the 1919 edition of the Champlain Handicap, Willis Sharpe Kilmer's top runner Sun Briar broke Saratoga's track record for the mile and one-eighth distance on dirt with a time of 1:50 flat. In so doing, he defeated his stablemate and future Hall of Fame inductee, Exterminator.[3] The following year Exterminator returned to compete in the 1920 running of the Champlain only to finish second again, this time to Gnome.[4]
The 1938 Champlain Handicap was the fifth race on the card. It was preceded by the Rockton Handicap, a race named in honor of the 1901 inaugural winner of the Champlain.[5] [6]
Due to World War II, in May, 1942 the United States government's Office of Price Administration implemented gasoline rationing on seventeen East Coast states which included New York. [7] Saratoga Springs Race Course relied upon a good attendance rate from New York city racing fans willing to make the 360 mile return trip but rationing would impact that for users of motor vehicles as well as passenger trains. As a result, the important Saratoga stakes races would be shifted to Belmont Park on densely populated Long Island in 1943 and 1944 where it was run as an event for three-year-old horses. The Champlain Handicap would never return to Saratoga.[8] [9]
Records
Speed record: (Jamaica Racetrack)
- 1:11.00 @ 6 furlongs: Oil Painting (1955) & Gandharva (1956)
Speed record: (Saratoga Race Course)
- 1:50.00 @ 1-1/8 miles: Sun Briar (1919)
Most wins:
- 2 - Dandelion (1906, 1907)
Most wins by a jockey:
- 2 - George M. Odom (1902, 1904)
- 2 - Frank Keogh (1920, 1921)
- 2 - Laverne Fator (1928, 1932)
- 2 - Don Meade (1933, 1934)
Most wins by a trainer:
- 3 - Henry E. McDaniel (1919, 1931, 1933)
- 3 - Thomas J. Healey (1905, 1910, 1927)
- 3 - John E. Madden (1906, 1907, 1908)
Most wins by an owner:
- 4 - Harry P. Whitney (1914, 1923, 1924, 1928)
Winners
| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
Dist. (Miles) (Furlongs) |
Time | Win $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamaica Racetrack | ||||||||
| 1957 | Happy Princess | 5 | Ovie Scurlock | Gerald E. Lewis | Mabel D. Lewis | 6 f | 1:11.40 | $16,350 |
| 1956 | Gandharva † | 4 | Bobby Ussery | Preston M. Burch | Brookmeade Stable | 6 f | 1:11.00 | $16,550 |
| 1955 | Oil Painting | 4 | Hedley Woodhouse | MacKenzie Miller | Mrs. Joseph A. Goodwin | 6 f | 1:11.00 | $11,500 |
| 1954 | Gay Grecque | 5 | Willie Roland | Eugene Jacobs | Mrs. S. George Zauderer | 6 f | 1:12.00 | $12,375 |
| 1952 | - 1953 | Race not held | ||||||
| 1951 | Northern Star | 3 | Eric Guerin | John M. Gaver Sr. | Greentree Stable | 6 F | 1:11.40 | $2,635 |
| Belmont Park | ||||||||
| 1945 | - 1950 | Race not held | ||||||
| 1944 | Stronghold | 3 | Robert Permane | James E. Fitzsimmons | Wheatley Stable | 1-1/16 m | 1:44.60 | |
| 1943 | Famous Victory | 3 | Ted Atkinson | John M. Gaver Sr. | Greentree Stable | 1 m | 1:36.00 | |
| Saratoga Race Course | ||||||||
| 1942 | Race not held | |||||||
| 1941 | Napper Tandy | 6 | Charles Dickey | Phil Schwartz | Phil Schwartz | 1 m | 1:39.60 | |
| 1940 | Masked General | 6 | Maurice Peters | William Mulholland | Brandywine Stable (Donald P. Ross) | 1-1/8 m | 1:53.00 | $1,975 |
| 1939 | Sickle T | 4 | Ronnie Nash | Jack Howard | Florence D. Whitaker | 1-1/8 m | 1:51.00 | $2,500 |
| 1938 | Esposa | 6 | Nick Wall | Matthew P. Brady | William Ziegler Jr. | 1-1/8 m | 1:50.60 | $2,350 |
| 1937 | Thorson | 5 | Johnny Longden | Thomas H. McCreery | Buckley M. Byers | 1-1/8 m | 1:50.40 | $2,500 |
| 1936 | Count Arthur | 4 | James Stout | Lon Johnson | Fannie Hertz | 1-1/8 m | 1:52.20 | $2,725 |
| 1935 | Good Goods | 4 | Jack Westrope | Robert A. Smith | Brookmeade Stable | 1-1/8 m | 1:51.60 | $2,600 |
| 1934 | Mr. Khayyam | 4 | Don Meade | Matthew P. Brady | Catawba Stable (Madelaine Austin) | 1-1/8 m | 1:52.00 | $2,900 |
| 1933 | Sun Archer | 3 | Don Meade | Henry E. McDaniel | Willis Sharpe Kilmer | 1-1/8 m | 1:54.00 | $2,870 |
| 1932 | Reveille Boy | 5 | Laverne Fator | John A. Best | John A. Best | 1-1/8 m | 1:54.60 | $3,200 |
| 1931 | Curate | 5 | Mack Garner | Henry E. McDaniel | Joseph E. Widener | 1-1/8 m | 1:52.60 | $3,825 |
| 1930 | Caesarion | 5 | Donald Lyons | Bennett W. Creech | William R. Coe | 1-1/8 m | 1:53.00 | $3,400 |
| 1929 | Distraction | 4 | James H. Burke | James E. Fitzsimmons | Wheatley Stable | 1-1/8 m | 1:55.60 | $3,775 |
| 1928 | Victorian | 3 | Laverne Fator | James G. Rowe Jr. | Harry P. Whitney | 1-1/8 m | 1:51.00 | $3,775 |
| 1927 | Display | 4 | John Maiben | Thomas J. Healey | Walter J. Salmon Sr. | 1-1/8 m | 1:52.20 | $3,450 |
| 1926 | Peanuts | 4 | Harry Richards | George P. Odom | Robert L. Gerry | 1-1/8 m | 1:54.00 | $4,200 |
| 1925 | Big Blaze | 4 | Albert Johnson | Gwyn R. Tompkins | Glen Riddle Farm | 1-1/8 m | 1:54.00 | $3,975 |
| 1924 | Klondyke | 3 | Ivan Parke | James G. Rowe Sr. | Harry P. Whitney | 1-1/8 m | 1:52.40 | $4,150 |
| 1923 | Bunting | 4 | Linus McAtee | James G. Rowe Sr. | Harry P. Whitney | 1-1/8 m | 1:51.00 | |
| 1922 | Mad Hatter | 6 | Earl Sande | Sam Hildreth | Rancocas Stable | 1-1/8 m | 1:51.20 | $4,150 |
| 1921 | Sennings Park | 5 | Frank Keogh | Scott P. Harlan | Westmont Stable (Lawrence Waterbury II & J. Leonard Replogie) | 1-1/8 m | 1:54.00 | $4,175 |
| 1920 | Gnome | 4 | Frank Keogh | William H. Brooks | Samuel Ross & Cary T. Grayson | 1-1/8 m | 1:53.20 | $3,400 |
| 1919 | Sun Briar | 4 | Willie Knapp | Henry E. McDaniel | Willis Sharpe Kilmer | 1-1/8 m | 1:50.00 | $2,675 |
| 1918 | Westy Hogan | 4 | Clarence Kummer | Sandy McNaughton | Wilfrid Viau | 1-1/8 m | 1:53.60 | $2,675 |
| 1917 | Clematis | 4 | Merritt Buxton | Thomas M. Murphy | Oscar Lewisohn | 1-1/8 m | 1:54.80 | $2,325 |
| 1916 | The Finn | 4 | Andy Schuttinger | Edward W. Heffner | Harry C. Hallenbeck | 1-1/8 m | 1:52.80 | $1,925 |
| 1915 | Star Jasmine | 6 | Eddie Martin | Thomas C. McDowell | Thomas C. McDowell | 1-1/8 m | 1:55.60 | $1,925 |
| 1914 | Pandean | 4 | Joe Kederis | Albert Simons | Harry P. Whitney | 1-1/8 m | 1:54.60 | $1,925 |
| 1913 | Cock o' the Walk | 3 | Buddy Glass | John P. Mayberry | Frederick Johnson | 1-1/8 m | 1:51.80 | $1,925 |
| 1912 | No races held due to the Hart–Agnew Law. | |||||||
| 1911 | ||||||||
| 1910 | Olambala | 4 | James Butwell | Thomas J. Healey | Richard T. Wilson Jr. | 1-1/8 m | 1:55.00 | $2,315 |
| 1909 | Wise Mason | 3 | Eddie Dugan | Thomas Welsh | Newcastle Stable | 1-1/8 m | 1:53.80 | $1,925 |
| 1908 | Angelus | 3 | Caroll Shilling | John E. Madden | Thomas Hitchcock Sr. | 1-1/8 m | 1:54.80 | $535 |
| 1907 | Dandelion | 5 | Herman Radtke | John E. Madden | Francis R. Hitchcock | 1-1/8 m | 1:52.20 | $2,300 |
| 1906 | Dandelion | 4 | LaVerne Sewell | John E. Madden | Francis R. Hitchcock | 1-1/8 m | 1:54.00 | $2,300 |
| 1905 | Dolly Spanker | 4 | Lucien Lyne | Thomas J. Healey | Richard T. Wilson Jr. | 1-1/8 m | 1:53.00 | $2,300 |
| 1904 | Molly Brant | 4 | George M. Odom | Hubert H. Hyner | S. Sanford & Sons | 1-1/8 m | 1:56.40 | $2,300 |
| 1903 | Africander | 3 | Grover Fuller | Richard O. Miller | Hampton Stable (Charles F. Dwyer & Simon Deimel) | 1-1/8 m | 1:56.00 | $2,295 |
| 1902 | Advance Guard | 5 | George M. Odom | Alexander Shields | James Carruthers & Alexander Shields | 1-1/8 m | 1:51.40 | $2,300 |
| 1901 | Rockton | 4 | Willie Shaw | William Hayward Jr. | John Sanford | 1-1/8 m | 1:54.40 | $2,300 |
- † Blue Sparkler finished first but was disqualified for interfering with runner-up Gandharva.
References
- "Saratoga's Grand Racing (history of the Champlain Handicap)". Daily Racing Form at University of Kentucky Archives. 1917-08-12. Retrieved 2021-06-22.
- "Dandelions Champlain: Hitchcock Horse Wins This Handicap for the Second Time". Daily Racing Form at University of Kentucky Archives. 1907-08-30. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
- "Sun Briar First in the Champlain Handicap in New Track Record Time". Daily Racing Form at University of Kentucky Archives. 1919-08-10. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
- "Saratoga Form Chart". Daily Racing Form at University of Kentucky Archives. 1920-08-15. Retrieved 2021-08-12.
- "Three-Length Victory Gained by Esposa in Champlain Handicap at Saratoga". New York Times, page 16. 1938-08-17. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
- "Racing At Saratoga; Rockton Made All the Running and Won the Stakes". New York Times, page 5. 1901-08-28. Retrieved 2021-08-07.
- "Protests Mount As Listing Begins In 'Gas' Rationing". New York Times, page 1. 1942-05-13. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
- "Famous Victory Captures Belmont Feature". New York Times, Section Sports, page 8. 1943-08-21. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
- "Stronghold, 5 to 1, Scores At Belmont". New York Times, Section Sports, page 18. 1944-08-18. Retrieved 2021-08-09.