Aristides Stakes Aristides Stakes The Aristides Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds and older over a distance of six furlongs on the dirt held annually in early June at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. . The race currently offers a purse of $100,000. The Aristides Stakes is named in honor of the racehorse Aristides who won the inaugural Kentucky Derby in 1875 on the Churchill Downs track. The race itself was inaugurated in 1989 and run at a distance of furlongs. Bet on Sunshine, the only two-time winner in the race's history, set a new track record
Churchill Downs in 1875. His father-in-law, Richard Ten Broeck, was an accomplished horse breeder and trainer, and introduced Clark to horse racing, attending the English Derby at Epsom Downs outside London. Churchill Downs filled a void in Louisville left by the closing of Oakland and Woodlawn, two earlier race courses. The then-rural location was along Louisville and Nashville Railroad tracks, allowing for easy transport of horses. Clark, who preferred longer races to the relatively short ones that had become popular by the 1890s, was running short of funds, and in 1894 sold the track to a syndicate led by William E. Applegate.