California Derby

The California Derby is a race for Thoroughbred horses held early in the year at Golden Gate Fields. An ungraded stakes, it is open to three-year-olds at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on a Tapeta surface. The Derby offers a purse of $100,000.
Northern California's first major test for horses hoping to run for the Triple Crown, the California Derby is also the main local prep race for the $200,000 El Camino Real Derby also run at Golden Gate.
The California Derby has been run since 1873. At that time it was set at twelve furlongs or a mile and a half and was won by Camilla Urso. Mollie McCarty won the 1876 edition and in 1909, African-American jockey James Lee won the race aboard High Private. Royal Orbit, who ran third in the California Derby, won the 1959 Preakness, and in 1909 Joe Madden, who ran second in the California Derby to High Private, won the Belmont Stakes. The 1996 winner, Pike Place Dancer won the Kentucky Oaks.