The Governor Stakes was an American Grade 1 Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, New York.
Owned by the Elmendorf Farm of Maxwell Gluck, Verbatim was trained by future Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Meyer and ridden by Pete Anderson.
In July 1975, the respected Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal published a story about the chances for success with such expensive Thoroughbred purchases titled "Is untried horseflesh worth that much?".
Back in competition, on July 19, 1975, Wajima began to show what was to come with a win in the Marylander Handicap that broke the Bowie Race Track's record time for a mile and one-eighth.
On September 1, in a race open to older horses, the three-year-old Wajima won a hard-fought Governor Stakes by a head over runner-up Foolish Pleasure, that year's Kentucky Derby winner.