The Grade III race is open to fillies and mares, age three and up, willing to race one mile and one eighth on the dirt.
In 1953, the $100,000 purse offered by the New Castle Handicap made it the richest race in the world for fillies and mares at the time.
In 2017, champion filly Songbird won as the shortest-priced favorite in the race's history at 1-9 odds.
[4] In 2023, Delaware Park management announced that the race would be shortened to 1+3⁄16 miles, citing difficulties in attracting top fillies and mares to run the 1+1⁄4-mile distance.
[5] Two years later, following the race's downgrading from Grade II to Grade III, management announced that the race would be further shortened to 1+1⁄8 miles and moved to September.