Jim Murray Memorial Handicap

Last updated
Jim Murray Memorial Handicap
Grade II race
Location Hollywood Park Racetrack
Inglewood, California, United States
Inaugurated 1990
Race type Thoroughbred - Flat racing
Website www.hollywoodpark.com
Race information
Distance1 12 miles (12 furlongs)
Surface Turf
Track Left-handed
Qualification Three-year-olds & up
Weight Assigned
Purse United States dollar$150,000

The Jim Murray Memorial Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run in mid-May at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. The Grade II event is open to horses, age three and up, willing to race one and one-half miles on turf.

Hollywood Park Racetrack former thoroughbred racetrack in Inglewood, California

Hollywood Park, later sold and referred to as Betfair Hollywood Park, was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994 Hollywood Park Casino, with a poker card room, was added to the racetrack complex. Horse racing and training were shut down in December 2013 though the casino operations continued while a new state of the art casino building opened in October 2016.

Inglewood, California City in California, United States

Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 109,673. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County. Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park is currently under construction in the city and, when completed around 2020, will be the new home of both the National Football League's Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers. The city is also close to Los Angeles International Airport.

A graded stakes race is a thoroughbred horse race in the United States or Canada that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). A specific grade level is then assigned to the race, based on statistical analysis of the quality of the field in previous years, provided the race meets the minimum purse criteria for the grade in question. Graded stakes races are similar to Group races in Europe but the grading is more dynamic in North America.

Contents

The race was run at one and one-quarter miles (10 furlongs) in 1990, 1999 and 2000.

Records

Speed record: (at current distance of 1 12 miles)

Most wins:

Acclamation is an American Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. After showing promising, but unremarkable, form in his first two seasons of racing, he emerged as a top class turf performer in 2010 when he won the Jim Murray Memorial Handicap and the Charles Whittingham Handicap. In the following season, he improved again, repeating his wins in the Jim Murray Handicap and the Charles Whittingham Handicap and adding wins in the Eddie Read Stakes, Pacific Classic and the Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship. At the end of the year, he was voted American Champion Older Male Horse. In an abbreviated 2012 season, he won a third Charles Whittingham Handicap and a second Eddie Read Stakes before being retired after winning his last seven races.

Most wins by a jockey:

Corey Nakatani American jockey

Corey S. Nakatani is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He got his big break in 1990 when he rode Itsallgreektome to win big stakes races.

Gary Stevens (jockey) American jockey

Gary Lynn Stevens is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey, actor, and sports analyst. He became a professional jockey in 1979 and rode his first of three Kentucky Derby winners in 1988. As of 2014, he has also won the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes three times each, as well as 10 Breeders' Cup races and is a nine-time winner of the Santa Anita Derby. He entered the United States Racing Hall of Fame in 1997. Combining his U.S. and international wins, Stevens had over 5,000 race wins by 2005, and reached his 5,000 North American win on February 15, 2015.

Most wins by a trainer:

Robert Julian Frankel was an American thoroughbred race horse trainer whom ESPN called "one of the most successful and respected trainers in the history of thoroughbred racing." He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1995, and was a five-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer. Often referred to as "Bobby" by others, he preferred and always used "Robert". Frankel set the single-season world record for most Grade/Group I victories in 2003 with 25 Grade I wins, a record that stood until it was beaten by Aidan O'Brien in 2017.

Most wins by an owner:

Winners of the Jim Murray Memorial Handicap

Year
Winner
Age
Jockey
Trainer
Owner
Time
2011 Acclamation 5 Joel Rosario Donald Warren The Johnstons/Hilvers2:25.63
2010 Acclamation 4 Christian Santiago Reyes Donald Warren E. W. & Judy Johnston2:26.59
2009NO RACE
2008 On the Acorn (GB)7 Brice Blanc Mike Mitchell Indizguys Stable2:27.36
2007 On the Acorn (GB)6 Victor Espinoza Mike Mitchell Indizguys Stable2:29.07
2006 Grey Swallow (IRE)5 Alex Solis Dermot Weld Vega & Weld2:27.33
2005 Runaway Dancer6 Garrett Gomez Dan Hendricks R L Stables2:26.75
2004 Rhythm Mad (FR)4 Alex Solis Bruce Headley Four Star Stables, Headley, et al.2:26.73
2003 Storming Home (GB) 5 Gary Stevens Neil Drysdale Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum 2:25.31
2002 Skipping (GB)5 Kent Desormeaux Robert Frankel Juddmonte Farms 2:26.23
2001 Kudos4 Eddie Delahoussaye Richard Mandella Jerry & Ann Moss 2:26.74
2000† Bienamado 4 Chris McCarron J. Paco Gonzalez McCaffery, Toffan & Sangster 1:58.93
1999† Lazy Lode (ARG)5 Corey Nakatani Richard Mandella The Thoroughbred Corporation 2:01.44
1998 Côte d'Azur (IRE)4 Corey Nakatani Robert Frankel Edmund A. Gann2:30.23
1997 Percutant (GB)6 Gary Stevens Jean-Pierre Dupuis Harlequin Stable & Diane Keith2:26.10
1996 Polish Admiral (GB)5 Brice Blanc Richard Cross Samantha, Jan and Mace Siegel2:26.13
1995 Jahafil (GB)7 Chris McCarron Sanford Shulman Charles & Clear Valley Stables2:25.45
1994 Mashaallah 6 Laffit Pincay, Jr. Robert Frankel Jorge Cardemil2:25.37
1993 Toulon (GB)5 Eddie Delahoussaye Robert Frankel Juddmonte Farms 2:26.67
1992 Berillon (GB)5 Corey Nakatani Robert Frankel Juddmonte Farms 2:26.80
1991 Sahib's Light5 Gary Stevens Richard Cross Giovanni Saibene2:25.90
1990† Shotiche4 Corey Black Robert Frankel Juddmonte Farms 2:00.60

† Run at ten furlongs in 1990, 1999 and 2000.

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