Autumn Maiden Stakes


The Autumn Maiden Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually near the end of the racing season each fall at Sheepshead Bay Race Track in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. Run from 1893 through 1909, it was a Maiden race on dirt for two-year-olds of either sex that had not yet won a race at the time of official registration for that year’s event.

Distances

  • 1893-1904, 1906, 1907:
  • 1905, 1908, 1909 at 5½ furlongs

    Raison d'être

For horse owners, as well as their trainer, having their horse earn its first victory was very important. Being winless near the end of the racing season was frustrating for the owner who would have spent a considerable amount of money buying the horse, then paying for all its racing costs including for its stabling, feed, trainer, veterinarian, entry fees, travel etc. For the trainer, a winless year usually resulted in dismissal. As such, the Autumn Maiden Stakes meant a great deal.
In the case of Ormonde's Right, after winning the 1903 Autumn Maiden Stakes, the gelding won that year’s Neptune Stakes at the Brighton [Beach Race Course] and would go on to a good racing career, winning such events as the important Carter Handicap in 1905.
In 1906, Electioneer won this race and went on to win the Futurity Stakes, one of the richest races in America that earned $36,880 for Electioneer, more than ten times the $3,375 he earned for winning the Autumn Maiden Stakes.
Other Autumn Maiden Stakes winners went on to more victories the following year at age three such as:
The 1908 passage of the Hart-Agnew anti-betting legislation by the New York Legislature under Republican Governor Charles Evans Hughes led to a state-wide shutdown of racing in 1911 and 1912. Having no alternative to survive without income from wagering, the Sheepshead Bay Race Track had no choice but to cut the race’s total purse money for 1908 by more than 70% from its 1907 level. The following year it was reduced again to less than 13% of what it had been at its peak in 1907.
It would be five years after Hart-Agnew became law that a February 21, 1913 ruling by the New York [Supreme Court, Appellate Division] saw horse racing return in that year. However, by then it was too late for horse racing at the Sheepshead Bay track and it was ultimately sold.

Records

Speed record:
  • 0:59.20 @ 5 furlongs: Arsenal
  • 1:06.80 @ 5.5 furlongs: Lady Bedford
Most wins by a jockey:
  • no jockey won this race more than once
Most wins by a trainer:
Most wins by an owner: