The Sheepshead Bay Stakes is a Grade III American thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares ages four-years-old and older run over a distance of one and three-eighth miles on the turf scheduled annually in early May at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.
In 1959 the event was held at Jamaica Race Course for the last time in mid July at a distance of 1+1⁄8 miles and was won by the 40-1 longshot Greek Star.
[4] In 1963 the distance of the event was reduced to 1+1⁄16 miles and was won by the reigning U.S. Champion Three-Year-Old Filly Cicada who carried an imposing weight of 128 pounds winning by a neck over Nubile.
Glowing Tribute won the event again ridden by US Hall of Fame jockey Jorge Velásquez setting a new track record for the 1+1⁄4 miles in 1:593⁄5.
[12] In 1983 Henryk de Kwiatkowski's owned and trained by the US Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens Sabin won this event as a three-year-old filly.
[6] The 2003 longshot winner Mariensky ridden John R. Velazquez by won the event by a record of 8+1⁄4 lengths on a soft track in a slow time of 2:28.19.
The original Sheepshead Bay Handicap was open to horses age three and older and was contested on dirt at a distance of one mile (8 furlongs).
[78] However, further restrictive legislation was passed by the New York Legislature in 1910 which resulted in the deepening of the financial crisis for track operators and led to a complete shut down of racing across the state during 1911 and 1912.
[81] A third future Hall of Fame inductee, the great filly Maskette, ran second to King James in the final edition in 1910.