It is run at Auteuil over a distance of 4,100 metres (about 2 miles and 4½ furlongs), and it is scheduled to take place each year in late May.
The event is named in memory of Ferdinand Dufaure, a former committee member of the Société des Steeple-Chases de France, who died in 1947.
The race was added to Auteuil's summer program in 1961, when another event, the Prix Maurice Gillois, was moved to the autumn.
The length of the Prix Ferdinand Dufaure was frequently modified in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before a more settled period over 4,400 metres began in 1973.
The runner-up in the 2007 Prix Ferdinand Dufaure, Master Minded, subsequently became a champion two-mile chaser in England.