It was open to horses three years old and upward and raced at a distance of 1¼ miles on dirt.
[2] Government wartime restrictions saw the 1943 edition run at Belmont Park.
On June 11, 1908, the Republican controlled New York Legislature under Governor Charles Evans Hughes passed the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation with penalties allowing for fines and up to a year in prison.
[3] In spite of strong opposition by prominent owners such as August Belmont Jr. and Harry Payne Whitney, reform legislators were not happy when they learned that betting was still going on between individuals at racetracks and they had further restrictive legislation passed by the New York Legislature in 1910 [4] that made it possible for racetrack owners and members of its board of directors to be fined and imprisoned if anyone was found betting, even privately, anywhere on their premises.
After a 1911 amendment to the law to limit the liability of owners and directors was defeated,[5] every racetrack in New York State shut down.