First run on July 21, 1917, the race was won by Rickety, a colt trained by future Hall of Fame inductee James G. Rowe Sr.[1] Rickety was owned by Harry Payne Whitney, a leading horseman at the time and member of the prominent Whitney family who in 2018 was honored by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame as one of the Pillars of the Turf.
[2][3] Purchase, owned and trained by another future Hall of Fame inductee Sam Hildreth won the 1919 running.
The beautiful chestnut son of Ormondale and the good racemare Cherryola was reported by noted racing historian Walter Vosburgh as a horse referred to as the "Adonis of the Turf".
[6] Sam Hildreth won his second Empire City Derby in 1921 as the trainer of the Rancocas Stable star runner Grey Lag who would earn retrospective American Horse of the Year honors for 1921 and in 1957 be inducted into the U. S. Racing Hall of Fame.
What would turn out to be the race's final running took place on July 15, 1933 and was won by Balios, a colt owned by the Phipps family's Wheatley Stable.