River City Stakes

The River City Stakes is a Grade III American thoroughbred horse race for horses age three and older over a distance of one and one eighth miles on the turf held annually in November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The event offers a purse of $300,000.

History
The name of the event is after a nickname for the city of Louisville where river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico provided the early settlement of Louisville as it grew as a portage site.

The event was inaugurated on 30 October 1978, opening day of Churchill Downs Fall meeting as the River City Handicap as a six furlong dirt race and was won by Inca Roca who won his fifth race from fourteen starts in a time of 1:10$1 1/8$.

The event was run over six furlongs until 1981 and then increased to 1 mile. In 1987 the event was scheduled on the turf over a distance of $2/5$ miles. The following year the distance of the event increased to $1 1/16$ miles but it was moved off the turf and onto the main track due to inclement weather.

The American Graded Stakes Committee classified the event as Grade III in 1996 and was won by the 2/1 favourite Same Old Wish. Same Old Wish would win the event again the following year as a seven-year-old.

The event was run as a handicap prior to 2019.

The race was not run from 2020 to 2021 and in 2022 when the event was resumed it was moved to the dirt track due to the state of turf track and was downgraded to Listed status.

Records
Speed record:
 * $1 1/8$ miles: 1:47.90  – Dr. Kashnikow (CAN)   (2001)
 * 1 mile (dirt): 1:36.20 - 	Taylor's Special (1986)

Margins:
 * 7 lengths – Go With the Times (1979)

Most wins:
 * 2 – Same Old Wish (1996, 1997)
 * 2 – Dr. Kashnikow (CAN) (2001, 2002)
 * 2 – Mr. Misunderstood (2018, 2019)

Most wins by an owner:
 * 2 – Friendship Stable (1996, 1997)
 * 2 – Erdenheim Farm (2001, 2002)
 * 2 – Flurry Racing Stables (2018, 2019)

Most wins by a jockey:
 * 6 – Pat Day (1982, 1984, 1986, 1991, 1999, 2000)

Most wins by a trainer:
 * 2 – Joseph M. Bollero (1979, 1982)
 * 2 – William C. Thomas (1980, 1988)
 * 2 – William I. Mott (1986, 1987)
 * 2 – W. Elliott Walden (1994, 2000)
 * 2 – Robert Barbara (1996, 1997)
 * 2 – Neil J. Howard (1999, 2005)
 * 2 – John R. S. Fisher (2001, 2002)
 * 2 – Brad H. Cox (2018, 2019)
 * 2 – Claude R. McGaughey III (1984, 2023)

Winners
Legend: