The Cecil B. DeMille Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-olds over a distance of one mile on the turf track scheduled annually in November at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California.
The event was inaugurated on 11 November 1982 as the Hoist The Flag Stakes at Hollywood Park Racetrack and was won by Fifth Division who was trained by A. Thomas Doyle and ridden by the US Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. in a time of 1:353⁄5.
[1] The event was named in honor of Hoist The Flag, the 1970 US Champion Two-Year-Old Colt whose career was cut short due to injury as a three-year-old.
In 2005 the event was not held because the newly planted Hollywood Park's turf course had failed to root properly.
His grandson, Joseph Harper has been in a management position at Del Mar since 1978 and became CEO of the track in 1990.