The track's premiere event is open to horses, age three, and is run at a distance of 1.125 miles (1.811 km) (9 furlongs) on the dirt and since 2007 normally offers a purse of $1 million.
If Creator, winner of the 2016 Belmont, had also raced, the purse would have been $1.5 million.
[4] The Pennsylvania Derby began on Memorial Day in 1979 and achieved Graded status in 1981.
From 1990 until 2009, with the exception of 2006 due to extensive renovations, the race was held on Labor Day; in 2004, it was elevated to a Grade II event.
Starting in 2010, the race moved to the last Saturday of September in an attempt to get a stronger field preparing for the Breeders' Cup; the move to late September also made it possible to move away from another premier event, the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in New York State.