The Fantasy Stakes is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old fillies at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt run annually usually in early April at Oaklawn Park Race Track in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The inaugural running of the event was on 6 April 1973 and was won by Robert E. Lehmann's Knitted Gloves coming from behind by 1+1⁄2 lengths in a time of 1:423⁄5.
[3] Between 1978 and 1989 the event held this classification and in that time some impressive winners include Davona Dale in 1979 who captured the U.S. Filly Triple Crown becoming the U.S. Champion three-year-old filly, the 1980 winner and US Hall of Fame inductee Bold 'n Determined.
In 1990, the event was downgraded to Grade II status[3] and held this status until the 2012 running and the next year it was reclassified as Grade III[3] The 2008 winner Eight Belles won the event as a short 1/2 odds-on favorite in a four-horse field.
In 2024 the event was upgraded by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association back to Grade II.