American Stakes
The American Stakes is a Grade III American thoroughbred horse race for horses age four and older over a distance of one mile on the turf track held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California in April. The race currently offers a purse of $100,000. History The event was inaugurated on Independence Day in 1938 as the American Handicap, when Bing Crosby's and Lindsay C. Howard's Argentine bred Ligorati set a new track record of 1:50 for the miles feature on the dirt track before a crowd of 60,000 at Hollywood Park Racetrack. The event was regularly scheduled for many of its runnings on the Fourth of July holiday attracting massive crowds especially in the 1950s and 1960s. In its early runnings, the event became a main preparatory event for the Hollywood Gold Cup. The event attracted many fine horses who went on to complete the double. These include Argentine bred Kayak II in 1939, the Irish bred Champion Noor in 1950, the 1948 Triple Crown champion Citation in 1951, Irish bred Royal Serenade in 1953, 1953 Kentucky Derby winner Swaps in 1956, Hillsdale in 1959, Prove It in 1962, South African bred Colorado King in 1964, Native Diver in