Iroquois Stakes (Churchill Downs) race has been run at a distance of mile. The Iroquois (pronounced "Ear-Ah-Coy") is named for Iroquois, the first American horse to win the English Epsom Derby. Iroquois Stakes (Churchill Downs) The Iroquois Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race which is the first graded stakes race for Thoroughbred horses on opening day at the Churchill Downs Fall Meet. This first day every fall is devoted entirely to two-year-old racing. The race is a Road to the Kentucky Derby Prep Season qualifying race. The winner receives 10 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby. Prior to 2013 the race was
American Quarter Horse by a group of horsemen and ranchers from the southwestern United States dedicated to preserving the pedigrees of their ranch horses. The horse honored with the first registration number, P-1, was Wimpy, a descendant of the King Ranch foundation sire Old Sorrel. Other sires alive at the founding of the AQHA were given the earliest registration numbers Joe Reed P-3, Chief P-5, Oklahoma Star P-6, Cowboy P-12, and Waggoner's Rainy Day P-13. The Thoroughbred race horse Three Bars, alive in the early years of the AQHA, is recognized by the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame as one of the