Raced in early January, it is open to horses age three and older and is contested on dirt over a distance of 1+1⁄8 mile.
[1] The race is named in honor of Alfred G. Vanderbilt's Native Dancer.
Native Dancer was the huge gray son of two of thoroughbred's top racing horses of the decade in Polynesian and Geisha.
Upon his retirement, Native Dancer entered into stud at Vanderbilt's Sagamore Farm in Glyndon, Maryland, where he remained until his death in 1967.
He was buried at Sagamore and was the sire of 45 stakes winners including Raise a Native (grandsire to Mr. Prospector), Alydar, Natalma and Northern Dancer.