The Top Flight Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. A Listed race, it is open to fillies and mares, age three and older. The event is contested over a distance of one and one-eighth miles on dirt and currently offers a purse of $150,000.

The Top Flight Handicap was run at Belmont Park prior to 1961 and again in 1993.^[1]

The race is named for Top Flight, ranked in the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century at #66. Top Flight was never beaten by a member of her own sex.^[2]

Historical note

Poker Night, the lone three-year-old in a field of seven, won the 1973 race by four lengths and bettered the stakes record time stakes two‐fifths of a second while running on a wet track officially rated only as good. ^[3]

Records

Speed record: (at current distance of 1 mile)

• 1:48.20 @ 1-1/8 miles: Poker Night (1973)
• 1:41.80 @ 1-1/16 miles: Parlo (1955)
• 1:34.96 @ 1 mile: Educated Risk (1994)

Most wins:

• 2 - Amerigo Lady (1968, 1969)
• 2 - Shuvee (1970, 1971)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 6 - Jerry Bailey (1990, 1993, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005)

Most wins by a trainer:

• 6 - Todd A. Pletcher (2007, 2008, 2014 ,2019, 2023, 2024)

Most wins by an owner:

• 3 - Ethel D. Jacobs (1956, 1965, 1967)
• 3 - Rokeby Stable (1968, 1969, 1993)

Winners

References