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The Illinois Derby is a race for Thoroughbred horses for three-year-olds run over a distance of one and one-eighth miles (9 furlongs) on the dirt at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, Illinois, just west of Chicago in early April each year. The event was first run in 1923 at the Hawthorne Race Course. The purse is $250,000.
| Grade III race | |
| Location | Hawthorne Race Course Stickney, Illinois, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1923 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred - Flat racing |
| Website | www |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 1+1⁄8 miles (9 furlongs) |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Track | Left-handed |
| Qualification | Three-year-olds |
| Weight | 122 lbs (55.3 kg) |
| Purse | $250,000 (2017) |
The race was named in honor of the home state in which it was run, the state of Illinois. The inaugural running of the race took place at Hawthorne in 1923 and was won by In Memoriam, the 3-year-old champion with Zev that year. The race was then run at Sportsman's Park from 1924 through 1931. It moved to Aurora Downs racetrack in 1932 and was run there until 1938. In 1939 the race went on hiatus until through 1962. Then the race was revived at Sportsman's Park Racetrack again in 1963 where it remained through its 2002 running. The race was not run 1939-1962 and 1970–1971.
The race was first graded in 1973 when the grading system started as a grade three stakes race and in 1997 was elevated to a grade two stakes race. The inaugural running of the race in 1923 was run at 1+1⁄4 miles.
Before 2000, the race was run between the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes thus competing with the second leg of the Triple Crown for good runners. Beginning in 2001, the Illinois Derby was moved to four weeks before the Kentucky Derby and instantly became a major Triple Crown prep race.
The 2002 Illinois Derby won by War Emblem was the last Derby run at Sportsman's Park Racetrack. War Emblem went on to become a "Dual Classic Winner" by winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. War Emblem helped elevate the prestige of the Illinois Derby by displaying that a race winner could go on to even bigger glory.
In 2004 Pollard's Vision also helped increase the stature of the race when he won it. Pollard's Vision was a colt who was blind in his right eye, he was named in honor of Seabiscuit's jockey Red Pollard, who also lost sight in his right eye.
In 2006 Sweetnorthernsaint, the Illinois Derby winner that year, helped the stature of the race after recording the highest beyer speed figure of the year in the race and was installed as the morning line favorite in the Kentucky Derby. Sweetnorthernsait went on to become the Preakness Stakes runner-up to Bernardini in the race where Barbaro was fatally injured.
In 1997, at Sportsman's Park, Wild Rush set the record for the fastest time in the Illinois Derby at 1:47.51.
It had been a Grade II race with an offering of a purse of $500,000, however, it was reduced to a Grade III race for 2010 by the American Graded Stakes Committee.[1] Since that time. For 2012, the purse has been reinstated to $500,000, but reduced to $400,000 in 2015.
| Year | Winner | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
Time | Purse$ | Gr. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Patriot Spirit | Julio E. Felix | Michael B. Campbell | Mellon Patch, Inc. | 1:50.43 | $200,000 | ||
| 2023 | Race not run | |||||||
| 2022 | Race not run | |||||||
| 2021 | Race not run | |||||||
| 2020 | Race not run | |||||||
| 2019 | Race not run | |||||||
| 2018 | Race not run | |||||||
| 2017 | Multiplier | James Graham | Brendan P. Walsh | American Equistock | 1:47.98 | $250,000 | III | |
| 2016 | Race not run[2] | |||||||
| 2015 | Whiskey Ticket | Martin A. Pedroza | Bob Baffert | Karl Watson, Michael E. Pegram, Paul Weitman | 1:50.82 | $400,000 | III | |
| 2014 | Dynamic Impact | Miguel Mena | Mark E. Casse | John C. Oxley | 1:49.07 | $750,000 | III | |
| 2013 | Departing | Brian Hernandez Jr. | Albert Stall Jr. | Claiborne Farm | 1:50.78 | $750,000 | III | |
| 2012 | Done Talking | Sheldon Russell | Hamilton Smith | Skeedattle Stable | 1:53.88 | $500,000 | III | |
| 2011 | Joe Vann | Florent Geroux | Todd Pletcher | Zayat Stable | 1:51.91 | $300,000 | III | |
| 2010 | American Lion | David Flores | Eoin G. Harty | WinStar Farm | 1:51.31 | $500,000 | III | |
| 2009 | Musket Man | Eibar Coa | Derek S. Ryan | Eric Fein & Vic Carlson | 1:49.91 | $500,000 | II | |
| 2008 | Recapturetheglory | E. T. Baird | Louie J. Roussel III | Louis J. Roussel III & Ronald Lamarque | 1:49.01 | $500,000 | II | |
| 2007 | Cowtown Cat | Fernando Jara | Todd A. Pletcher | WinStar Farm | 1:51.21 | $500,000 | II | |
| 2006 | Sweetnorthernsaint | Kent Desormeaux | Michael Trombetta | Joseph J. Balsamo & Ted Theos | 1:49.82 | $500,000 | II | |
| 2005 | Greeley's Galaxy | Kent Desormeaux | Glen Stute | B. Wayne Hughes | 1:49.62 | $500,000 | II | |
| 2004 | Pollard's Vision | Eibar Coa | Todd A. Pletcher | Edgewood Farm | 1:50.80 | $500,000 | II | |
| 2003 | Ten Most Wanted | Pat Day | Wallace Dollase | James Chisholm, J. Paul Reddam, Michael Jarvis | 1:51.47 | $500,000 | II | |
| 2002 | War Emblem | Larry Sterling Jr. | Frank R. Springer | Russell Reineman Stable | 1:49.42 | $500,000 | II | |
| 2001 | Distilled | Mike E. Smith | Todd A. Pletcher | Dogwood Stable | 1:51.37 | $500,000 | II | |
| 2000 | Performing Magic | Shane Sellers | Alex L. Hassinger, Jr. | The Thoroughbred Corp. | 1:50.86 | $500,000 | II | |
| 1999 | Vision and Verse | Herbert Castillo | William I. Mott | W. Bruce Lunsford | 1:48.47 | $500,000 | II | |
| 1998 | Yarrow Brae | Willie Martinez | D. Wayne Lukas | Michael Tabor & Susan Magnier | 1:51.21 | $500,000 | II | |
| 1997 | Wild Rush | Kent Desormeaux | Richard Mandella | Frank Stronach | 1:47.51 | $500,000 | II | |
| 1996 | Natural Selection | Randy Romero | Mohamed Moubarak | Buckram Oak Farm (Mahmoud Fustuq) | 1:48.60 | $500,000 | III | |
| 1995 | Peaks and Valleys | Julie Krone | James E. Day | Pin Oak Stable | 1:48.99 | $500,000 | III | |
| 1994 | Rustic Light | Earlie Fires | Robert Hale | Phillip Brooks & Robert Hale | 1:51.89 | $500,000 | III | |
| 1993 | Antrim Rd. | Aaron Gryder | Glenn Wismer | Alyce & Joseph Novogratz | 1:48.68 | $500,000 | III | |
| 1992 | Dignitas | Jerry D. Bailey | George R. Arnold II | John Peace | 1:49.09 | $533,500 | III | |
| 1991 | Richman | Jerry D. Bailey | William I. Mott | William F. Lucas | 1:49.36 | $530,000 | III | |
| 1990 | Dotsero | Aaron Gryder | Tim Muckler | J. Malkin, B. Glazov, et al. | 1:50.60 | $315,000 | III | |
| 1989 | Music Merci | Gary Stevens | Craig C. Lewis | Harvey & Thea Cohen | 1:50.20 | $515,000 | III | |
| 1988 | Proper Reality | Jerry D. Bailey | Robert E. Holthus | Mrs. James A. Winn | 1:50.20 | $535,000 | III | |
| 1987 | Lost Code | Gene St. Leon | L. William Donovan | Wendover Stable | 1:49.60 | $313,550 | III | |
| 1986 | Bolshoi Boy | Richard Migliore | Howard M. Tesher | Art Belford & John Greathouse | 1:52.20 | $315,000 | III | |
| 1985 | Important Business | Juvenal L. Diaz | LeRoy Jolley | Ilene & Skip Taylor | 1:51.60 | $320,000 | III | |
| 1984 | Delta Trace | Keith K. Allen | Robert J. Frankel | Ann & Jerry Moss | 1:51.80 | $210,000 | III | |
| 1983 | Gen'l Practitioner | Jose A. Santiago | Leo Sierra | William Blair | 1:50.40 | $210,000 | III | |
| 1982 | Star Gallant | Ray Sibille | Lenny Imperio | Mahmoud Fustuq | 1:52.60 | $210,000 | III | |
| 1981 | Paristo | David Ashcroft | George R. Handy | Robert & Ruth Feinberg | 1:49.60 | $155,000 | III | |
| 1980 | Ray's Word | Richard DePass | Smiley Adams | Not found | 1:52.00 | $155,000 | III | |
| 1979 | Smarten | Sam Maple | Woody Stephens | Ryehill Farm (Jim & Eleanor Ryan) | 1:49.40 | $150,000 | III | |
| 1978 | Batonnier | Ronald Hirdes Jr. | Harry Trotsek | Edward Seltzer | 1:51.60 | $105,000 | III | |
| 1977 | Flag Officer | Leslie Ahrens | George J. Getz | Chuck Schmidt & Philip Teinowitz | 1:52.20 | $105,000 | III | |
| 1976 | Life's Hope | Sandy Hawley | Laz Barrera | Harbor View Farm | 1:51.40 | $125,000 | III | |
| 1975 | Colonel Power | Phil Rubbicco | John O. Meaux | Harvey Peltier Sr. | 1:50.20 | $105,000 | III | |
| 1974 | Sharp Gary | Gerland Gallitano | Joseph DiAngelo | Edward R. Scharps | 1:50.00 | $105,000 | III | |
| 1973 | Big Whippendeal | Larry Adams | John Fulton | Kinship Stables | 1:50.20 | $75,000 | III | |
| 1972 | Fame And Power | Tony Rini | John O. Meaux | Harvey Peltier Sr. | 1:50.00 | $70,000 | ||
| 1971 | Race not run | |||||||
| 1970 | Race not run | |||||||
| 1969 | King of the Castle | Braulio Baeza | Edward A. Neloy | Ogden Phipps | 1:51.40 | $80,000 | ||
| 1968 | Bold Favorite | Robert Nono | Del W. Carroll | Michael G. Phipps | 1:50.20 | $75,000 | ||
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