Pat Day Mile Stakes Trial, but returned to sweep the Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. Pat Day Mile Stakes The Pat Day Mile Stakes is an American Grade 3 Thoroughbred horse race held on Kentucky Derby day run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky for three-year-olds willing to race one mile on the dirt. The current purse is $250,000 for the event. Originally, the event was known as the Derby Trial Stakes and was held one week before the Kentucky Derby. It was first run in 1924 and every year since, with the exception of 1928. The race name was given similar to
Wise Dan Stakes event in 2002. The race was renamed as the Wise Dan Stakes in 2016 in honor of two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan, who won the race in 2011 in his Turf Debut. The distance was changed from 8 furlongs to 8.5 furlongs at the same time. Wise Dan Stakes The Wise Dan Stakes, formerly known as the Firecracker Handicap, is an American thoroughbred horse race run annually on the turf course at Churchill Downs. The Grade II event is open to horses, age three and up, willing to race one and one sixteenth of a mile and currently