Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes

The inaugural running of the event known as the Saratoga Derby was on 13 August 1904 run as the fourth race on the day's card over a distance of 1+5⁄16 miles on the dirt track. The event was won by James R. Keene's 1904 Belmont Stakes winner Delhi starting as 2/9 odds-on favorite who led from start to finish in a small three horse field defeating the entry of Stalwart and St. Valentine in a time of 2:132⁄5.^[1] The second running was won by the Cairngorm who earlier in the spring had won the 1905 Preakness Stakes which was held at Gravesend Race Track.^[2] The event only attracted four runners but the winning margin was a close neck in a time of 2:18 flat.^[3] The third and last running in 1906 was won by the favorite Accountant who defeated Gallavant and McKittredge. At that time the event was richer than the Travers Stakes and Accountant was the top stakes earner for the year with $81,925 for owner Diamond Jim Brady.^[4]

The entrance into the event, with additional declaration fees needed to be paid when horses were still two-year-olds was a burden which curtailed the number of horses that would start in the event. The event was not held after 1906.^[5]

In 2019 the New York Racing Association with the influx of racino dollars created a new racing series for turf horses called the Turf Trinity. The Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes was positioned as the second leg of the new three race series with the first running on 21 July 2019 over a distance of 1+3⁄16 miles with an impressive purse of US$1 million. In 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, NYRA cut the purse to $500,000 meeting.^[6] The other events of the Turf Trinity are the Belmont Derby and the Jockey Club Derby at Belmont Park.

For 2021 the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association's American Graded Stakes Committee upgraded the classification of the event to the highest status of Grade I.^[7] The 2021 winner, the Irish-bred State Of Rest confirmed the high classification of the event by later in the year travelling to Australia and winning the Group 1 Weight for age W. S. Cox Plate and the following year winning the Group 1 Prince of Wales's StakesatRoyal Ascot.

Speed record:

• 1+3⁄16 miles: 1:52.02 A Thread of Blue (2019)

Margins:

• 1+3⁄4 lengths – Nations Pride (IRE) (2022)

Most wins by an owner:

• 2 – Klaravich Stables (2020, 2023)

Most wins by a trainer:

• 2 – Chad C. Brown (2020, 2023)

Most wins by a jockey:

• No jockey has won the event more than once

• List of American and Canadian Graded races