Alysheba Stakes Alysheba Stakes The Alysheba Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. The Alysheba became the most recent addition to the Derby Week stakes lineup as it joined the schedule in 2004 and is currently run on the undercard of the Kentucky Oaks, the day before the Kentucky Derby. It was the first stakes to join the Derby Week lineup since 1997. The event is named for the talented 1987 Kentucky Derby winner and United States Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Alysheba, who returned to the Downs in 1988 to win the
Manor Downs for a pari-mutuel license. Manor Downs was licensed as a class 2 racetrack in Texas. A class 2 racetrack is a racetrack on which racing is conducted for no more than 44 days in a calendar year. Manor Downs has also been the site for concerts through the years including Farm Aid 2 and the Grateful Dead. As horse racing's popularity waned with the slow economy of the late-2000s recession, Manor Downs ceased operations in late July 2010 rather than continue losing money. The following graded stakes were run at Manor Downs: Manor Downs Manor Downs was a horse racetrack