It is held annually in early May on the dirt on the Kentucky Oaks day meeting at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, during the spring meeting.
The Alysheba became the most recent addition to the Derby Week stakes with the inaugural running on 30 April 2004 as the sixth race on the undercard of the Kentucky Oaks day meeting.
The event is named for the talented 1987 Kentucky Derby winner and United States Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Alysheba, who returned to the Downs in 1988 to win the Breeders' Cup Classic.
His victory marked the first time a Derby winner had returned to Churchill to win a stakes since Whirlaway took the 1942 Clark Handicap.
[3] The 2012 winner Successful Dan broke the track record for the distance which to date still holds.