First run in 1924 as the Derby Trial Stakes and run in the week before the Kentucky Derby, the race was renamed the Pat Day Mile and moved to the Kentucky Derby undercard in 2015. The race was once considered a steppingstone to the Kentucky Derby and horses such as Triple Crown winners Assault and Whirlaway ran in the race before sweeping the Triple Crown. Like its name suggests, the Pat Day Mile is a race for 3-year-olds at a distance of one mile (8 furlongs) on the main track at Churchill Downs.
First run in 1924 as the Derby Trial Stakes and run in the week before the Kentucky Derby, the race was renamed the Pat Day Mile and moved to the Kentucky Derby undercard in 2015. The race was once considered a steppingstone to the Kentucky Derby and horses such as Triple Crown winners Assault and Whirlaway ran in the race before sweeping the Triple Crown. Like its name suggests, the Pat Day Mile is a race for 3-year-olds at a distance of one mile (8 furlongs) on the main track at Churchill Downs. Today, the Pat Day Mile often serves as a steppingstone to the second Jewel of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes. Both Pat Day and Eddie Arcaro sit at the top of the winners’ list for jockeys at four each with trainer Ben Jones winning five to top that list and Calumet Farm winning seven to top the owner’s list. In recent years, Bayern finished second in this race before going on to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2014.