The Modesty Stakes is a Grade III American

Thoroughbred horse race Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in ...

run annually at

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States that hosts the annual Kentucky Derby. It opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was prominent in Kentucky for many years. The first ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. A Grade III race contested over a distance of miles on

turf Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

, it is open to

fillies A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: *In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old. *In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, th ...

and

mares A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four y ...

aged four and older. Run in May during on

Kentucky Oaks The Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers at Churchill Downs; the horses carry . The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Frida ...

day, the event currently offers a purse of $250,000. Inaugurated in 1942 at the old

Washington Park Race Track Washington Park Race Track was a popular horse racing venue in the Chicago metropolitan area from 1884 until 1977. It had two locations during its existence. It was first situated at what became the Washington Park Subdivision of the Woodl ...

as a race for three-year-old fillies, the following year it was made open to both fillies and older mares. Until 1951, it was run as the Modesty Stakes. It was raced on dirt from 1942 through 1955, 1958 through 1965, and again in 1996. It has been run at various distances: * 1 mile : 1942, 1944–1946, 1952, 1966 * 3/4 mile (6 furlongs) : 1947–1951, 1953–1954, 1958–1962 * 7/8 mile (7 furlongs) : 1943, 1963–1965 * miles (8.5 furlongs) : 1955–1957, 1967–1968,1986 * miles (9 furlongs) : 1987 * miles (9.5 furlongs) : 1980–1985, 1989–present The race was hosted by

from 1942 through 1945 and from 1968 through 1961.

Hawthorne Race Course Hawthorne Race Course is a racetrack for horse racing in Stickney, Illinois, near Chicago. The oldest continually run family-owned racetrack in North America, in 2009 the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating system for ...

hosted it in 1985. The race was named in honor of

Modesty Modesty, sometimes known as demureness, is a mode of dress and deportment which intends to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others. The word ''modesty'' comes from the Latin word ''wikt:modestus, modestus'' which means 'keeping with ...

, a filly owned by Edward Corrigan who beat her

male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

counterparts to win the 1884 inaugural running of the

American Derby The American Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race first run at Chicago's old Washington Park Race Track on the city's South Side and raced there until 1905 when the facility was closed following the state's ban on gambling, and horse ra ...

at Washington Park Race Track under

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey,

Isaac Burns Murphy Isaac Burns Murphy (January 6, 1861 – February 16, 1896) was an American Hall of Fame jockey, considered one of the greatest riders in American Thoroughbred horse racing history. He won three runnings of the Kentucky Derby and was the first joc ...

. In 1966, the Modesty Handicap was run in two divisions. There was no race from 1969 through 1979 inclusive, nor in 1988, 1995, 1998 and 1999. In 2022, the event was moved to

after the closure of

Arlington Park Arlington Park (formerly known as Arlington International Racecourse) is a former horse race track in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Once called the ''Arlington Park Jockey Club'', it was located adjacent to the Illinois Rou ...

Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County Illinois, United States. A northwestern Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

Records

Speed record: (at current distance of miles) * 1:47.46 – Didia (2023) Most wins: * 2 – Sickle's Image (1951, 1954) * 2 – Indian Maid (1960, 1961) * 2 – Gaily Gaily (1989, 1990) Most wins by an owner: * 3 –

Calumet Farm Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of the Bluegrass ...

(1948, 1952, 1959) Most wins by a

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

: * 3 –

René Douglas René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine ...

(2002, 2003, 2008) * 3 –

Earlie Fires Earlie Stancel Fires (born March 19, 1947) is an American retired horse racing jockey. Fires began riding professionally in 1964 and led all American apprentices in wins that year with 224. He retired on September 21, 2008, having won 6,470 races ...

(1982, 1986, 1993) Most wins by a trainer: * 3 –

Harry Trotsek Harry E. Trotsek (April 18, 1912 – February 5, 1997) was an American Hall of Fame trainer and owner of Thoroughbred racehorses. He trained 96 stakes race winners including Champions Hasty Road, Moccasin, Oil Capitol, and Stan, and led all Nor ...

(1953, 1956, 1958) * 3 –

William I. Mott William I. "Bill" Mott (born July 29, 1953, in Mobridge, South Dakota) is an American horse trainer, most notable for his work with Cigar (horse), Cigar. Mott earned the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer in 1995, 1996, 2011, 2013. He was ind ...

(1989, 1990, 2005)

Winners

References

{{reflist
The Modesty Handicap at Pedigree Query
Graded stakes races in the United States 1942 establishments in Illinois Turf races in the United States Middle distance horse races for fillies and mares Arlington Park Horse races established in 1942 Horse races in Illinois Churchill Downs horse races Grade 3 stakes races in the United States