Laureate Stakes
{{Infobox horseraces
| class = Discontinued stakes
| horse race = Laureate Stakes
| website =
| image =
| caption =
| location = Morris Park Racecourse
(1896–1904)
Westchester County, New York
Belmont Park
(1905–1910, 1914)
Elmont, New York
| inaugurated = 1896–1913
| race type = Thoroughbred – Flat racing
| distance = {{convert|5.5|furlong|mi}}
| surface = Dirt
| track = left-handed
| qualification = Two-year-olds
| weight =
| purse =
| bonuses =
}}
The Laureate Stakes was a race for two-year-old Thoroughbred horses run at Morris Park Racecourse in Westchester County, New York from inception in 1896 through 1904.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1890s/drf1896052701/drf1896052701_2_7 |title=Morris Park Form Chart |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1896-05-27 |accessdate=2018-12-02}}{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1909060301/drf1909060301_3_2 |title=New York Form Chart |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1909-06-03 |accessdate=2018-12-02}} The racecourse was located in a part of Westchester County, New York that was annexed into the Bronx in 1895 and later developed as the neighborhood of Morris Park.
Financial difficulties saw Morris Park cease operations and the race was transferred to the newly opened Belmont Park in Elmont, New York where it was run from 1905 through 1910 and for a final time in 1914.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1914062101/drf1914062101_3_1 |title=Belmont Park Form Chart |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1914-06-21 |accessdate=2018-12-02}} The Laureate was run on dirt and for all but its final edition at 5½ furlongs was contested at a distance of five furlongs.{{cite web|url=https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1900s/drf1909060301/drf1909060301_1_2 |title=Waldo Wins the Laureate |work=Daily Racing Form|via=University of Kentucky Archives|date=1909-06-03 |accessdate=2019-01-16}}
The 1911–1912 statewide shutdown of horse racing
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.{{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|accessdate=2018-10-26}}
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 at racetracks between individuals and they had further restrictive legislation passed by the New York Legislature in 1910 {{cite web|url=https://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/the-first-american-triple-crown-series/|title=The First American Triple Crown Series|first=Bennett|last=Liebman|date=May 24, 2009|website=The Rail|access-date=September 2, 2017}} 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,{{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}} every racetrack in New York State shut down. As a result, the Laureate Stakes was not run in 1911 and 1912.
Records
Speed record: (5 furlongs)
- 0:58.80 – Song and Wine (1904)
Most wins by a jockey:
- 2 – Tod Sloan (1897–1898)
- 2 – George M. Odom (1900, 1903)
- 2 – Joe Notter (1908, 1914)
Most wins by a trainer:
- 3- James G. Rowe Sr. (1896, 1907, 1908)
Most wins by an owner:
- 2- August Belmont Jr. (1906, 1910)
- 2- James R. Keene (1907, 1908)
Winners
| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%" |
| style="width:30px" | Year ! style="width:110px" | Winner ! style="width:20px" | Age ! style="width:110px" | Jockey ! style="width:120px" | Trainer ! Owner ! style="width:25px" | Dist. ! style="width:25px" | Time ! style="width:25px" | Win$ |
|---|
| align=center|1914
|align=center|2 |Richard C. Benson |align=center|5.5 F |align=center|1:07.00 |align=center|$6,025 |
| bgcolor="#eeeeee"
|align=center|1913 |align=center colspan=10| Race not held |
| style="background:#eee;"
|align=center|1912 | rowspan="2" colspan="10" style="text-align:center;"| No races held due to the Hart–Agnew Law. |
| style="background:#eee;"
|align=center|1911 |
| align=center|1910
|Babbler |align=center|2 |John Whalen |align=center|5 F |align=center|1:00.40 |align=center|$2,375 |
| align=center|1909
|align=center|2 |Charles L. Harrison |align=center|5 F |align=center|1:01.00 |align=center|$1,925 |
| align=center|1908
|align=center|2 |align=center|5 F |align=center|0:59.60 |align=center|$2,885 |
| align=center|1907
|Frizette |align=center|2 |James G. Rowe Sr. |James R. Keene |align=center|5 F |align=center|0:00.00* |align=center|$3,425 |
| align=center|1906
|Okenite |align=center|2 |John Whalen |August Belmont Jr. |align=center|5 F |align=center|0:59.00 |align=center|$2,975 |
| align=center|1905
|Penrhyn |align=center|2 |Charles H. Hughes |Henry M. Zeigler |align=center|5 F |align=center|1:01.00 |align=center|$2,460 |
| align=center|1904
|Song and Wine |align=center|2 |Newton Bennington |align=center|5 F |align=center|0:58.80 |align=center|$2,395 |
| align=center|1903
|Boxwood |align=center|2 |Green B. Morris |align=center|5 F |align=center|0:59.75 |align=center|$2,850 |
| align=center|1902
|Charles Elwood |align=center|2 |align=center|5 F |align=center|0:59.25 |align=center|$2,675 |
| align=center|1901
|Oom Paul |align=center|2 |William Heuston |Jacob Worth |align=center|5 F |align=center|1:01.00 |align=center|$1,805 |
| align=center|1900
|align=center|2 |align=center|5 F |align=center|0:59.80 |align=center|$2,015 |
| align=center|1899
|Prince of Melbourne |align=center|2 |Jesse Everett |Charles T. Patterson |align=center|5 F |align=center|0:59.80 |align=center|$2,150 |
| align=center|1898
|Dr. Eichberg |align=center|2 |Amos Turney |Turney Bros. |align=center|5 F |align=center|0:59.75 |align=center|$2,005 |
| align=center|1897
|Frohman |align=center|2 |Tod Sloan |David Gideon |align=center|5 F |align=center|1:00.00 |align=center|$2,250 |
| align=center|1896
|Bastion |align=center|2 |James G. Rowe Sr. |align=center|5 F |align=center|1:03.00 |align=center|$2,500 |
- no time taken