Dolphin Stakes

The inaugural edition of the Dolphin Stakes was won by Kingston who would finish his racing career with 89 wins, the most in the history of Thoroughbred racing. Kingston, his jockey, and his trainer all would have careers that led to induction in America's Racing Hall of Fame.

{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1887/09/06/archives/to-improve-racing-a-radical-rule-by-the-coney-island-and-brooklyn.html |title=Racers at their Best |work=New York Times|page=2|date=1887-09-06 |access-date=2020-02-18}}

In 1894 Henry of Navarre was another future Hall of Fame inductee that won the Dolphin Stakes. He came into the event having already won that year's Travers and Belmont Stakes.{{citation|title=The Tribune Almanac and Political Register |publisher=The Tribune Almanac and Political Register, pages 231 |date=1895-01-01}}

Beldame, a third Dolphin Stakes winner that would be inducted in the Hall of Fame, won the 1904 running.{{cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-times-aug-31-1904-p-8/ |title=Beldame Wins Dolphin Stakes |work=New York Times|page=8|date=1904-08-31 |access-date=2020-02-09}} For that year she would be named American Horse of the Year.[http://www.bloodhorse.com/eclipsewinners/pdf/History_Charts.pdf The Bloodhorse.com Champion's history charts] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904120526/http://www.bloodhorse.com/eclipsewinners/pdf/History_Charts.pdf |date=September 4, 2012}}

The final edition of the Dolphin Stakes was won by Gliding Belle, a filly owned by William F. Schulte who had been an owner of Churchill Downs and served as president and CEO from 1895 to 1901.{{cite web|url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/money/2014/08/28/churchill-downs-inc-names-new-chief-executive/14729819/ |title=Churchill Downs Inc. Names New Chief Executive |publisher=The Courier-Journal |date=2014-08-28 |access-date=2020-02-15}} Schulte was responsible for adding the now iconic twin spires to the Churchill Downs grandstand.{{cite web |url=https://www.churchilldowns.com/visit/about/churchill-downs/history/ |title=The History of Churchill Downs |publisher=Churchill Downs Incorporated |date=2020-02-17 |access-date=2020-02-17 |archive-date=2019-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324005237/https://www.churchilldowns.com/visit/about/churchill-downs/history/ |url-status=dead }}

The 1908 passage of the Hart–Agnew anti-betting legislation by the New York Legislature under Republican Governor Charles Evans Hughes created havoc in the state's racing industry and would lead to a complete shutdown of racing in 1911 and 1912.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1908011801/drf1908011801_1_7 |title=Penalties in the New York Bills |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1908-01-18|access-date=2018-10-26}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/07/14/archives/race-track-bill-defeated-in-senate-measure-modifying-directors.html|title=Race Track Bill Defeated In Senate; Measure Modifying Directors' Liability for Gambling Fails of Passage|work=The New York Times|date=July 14, 1911|publisher=|access-date=September 2, 2017}}

The owners of Sheepshead Bay Race Track, and other racing facilities in New York State, struggled to stay in business without income from betting.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/09/01/archives/keep-up-betting-ban-strict-enforcement-of-the-law-at-sheepshead-bay.html |title=Keep Up Betting Ban |work=New York Times |date=1908-09-01 |access-date=2018-11-06}} Racetrack operators had no choice but to eliminate certain races and drastically reduce the purse money being paid out which resulted in the Dolphin Stakes not being run in 1908. Brought back in 1909 with a purse reduced to less than one-eighth of what it had been in earlier years. These small purses made horse racing unprofitable and impossible for even the most successful horse owners to continue in business.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1908081101/drf1908081101_1_6 |title=Coney Island Clubs Sturdy Stand |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1908-08-11 |access-date=2019-02-03}} A February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division saw horse racing return in 1913.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1913022201/drf1913022201_1_9 |title= Oral Betting Held Legal: Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court Renders Important Decision |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1913-02-22 |access-date=2019-06-29}} However, it was too late for the Sheepshead Bay horse racing facility and it never reopened.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1908121501/drf1908121501_1_7|title=Destruction Wrought by Hughes |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1908-12-15|access-date=2018-11-30}}{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1914111701/drf1914111701_1_2 |title=Famous Old Track is Sold |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1914-11-17|access-date=2018-11-30}}

Speed record:

• 1:53 flat @ 1 1/8 miles: Nealon (1906)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 2 – Jim McLaughlin (1998, 1888)
• 2 – Fred Taral (1891, 1893)
• 2 – Frank O'Neill (1904, 1905)

Most wins by a trainer:

• 2 – William Lakeland (1893, 1895, 1896)

Most wins by an owner:

• 2 – Byron McClelland (1892, 1894)
• 2 – James R. Keene (1893, 1895)

{{reflist}}

Category:Discontinued horse races in New York City

Category:Flat horse races for three-year-olds

Category:Open mile category horse races

Category:Sheepshead Bay Race Track

Category:Horse races established in 1887

Category:Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1909

Category:1887 establishments in New York (state)

Category:1909 disestablishments in New York (state)