Mint Julep Handicap Mint Julep Handicap The Mint Julep Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. Usually run in May or June, the Grade III event is open to fillies and mares age three and older. It is contested on Turf over a distance of one and one sixteenth miles (8.5 furlongs). The race is named for the Mint Julep, a popular drink with racing fans at Churchill Downs, particularly seen on Kentucky Derby day. Beginning in 2001, the Mint Julep Handicap became the Old Forester Mint Julep Handicap for sponsorship reasons. It currently
Eight Belles Stakes Eight Belles Stakes The Eight Belles Stakes is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old filly sprinters run at a distance of 7 furlongs at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky each year on Kentucky Oaks Day. Raced as the Oaks Prep from 1956 to 1966, it was then renamed the La Troienne Stakes from 1967 to 2008 for one of the greatest broodmares in the United States throughout the twentieth century, La Troienne. In June 2008, Churchill Downs announced that beginning in 2009 this race would be called the Eight Belles Stakes in honor of the deceased filly,