Prior to 1962 the race was open to horses of either sex. For 1972 only, it was restricted to three-year-old fillies.
Inaugurated in 1940 as the New York Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack, it was moved to Belmont Park in 1961 but returned to Aqueduct in 1963 where it remained until 1975 when it was shifted permanently to Belmont Park. Since its inception, it has been contested at various distances on both dirt and turf:
2+1⁄4 miles : 1940–1950 on dirt
1+1⁄8 miles : 1951–1954 on dirt
1+1⁄8 miles : 1959–1960 on turf
1+3⁄8 miles : 1955–1956, 1958, 1961, on turf
1+3⁄16 miles : 1963–1964, 1968–1971, on turf
1+1⁄16 miles : 1965–1967, 1977–1979, on turf
7 furlongs : 1972, on dirt
1+1⁄4 miles : 1980 to present, on turf
1+3⁄16 miles : 2024 on turf - ran at Saratoga Race Course
There was no race run in 1957 and 1973–1975.
The race was run in two divisions in 1960, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1978.
In 2009, due to heavy rains, the race was taken off the turf and shortened from 1 and 1/4 miles to 1 and 1/8 miles.
In 2015, the date for the race was moved to the Friday before the Belmont Stakes as part of the Belmont Racing Festival.[1] For 2016, the purse was increased to $500,000.[2]
