The Kelso Stakes , previously held as the Forbidden Apple Stakes , is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged four years old and older held over a distance of one mile (8 furlongs ) on the turf held annually in mid-July at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York .
7-555: The inaugural event was named in honor of Forbidden Apple who won the 2001 Grade I Manhattan Handicap and won the Grade II Kelso Handicap twice. The event's inaugural running was on Independence Day in 2014 at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York as the seventh race on the ten race holiday card and was won by Shadwell Stable 's Sayaad who defeated the favorite Kharafa in a five horse field by 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 lengths in
14-399: A jockey : Most wins by a trainer : Forbidden Apple Forbidden Apple (foaled May 31, 1995) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse and the winner of the 2001 Manhattan Handicap . Forbidden Apple's first race was on July 24, 1998 at Belmont Park , where he came in seventh. The colt's first win came on September 13, 1998 in a Maiden Special Weight race at Belmont Park. On
21-677: A third-place finish in the 2003 Barretts/CTBA Turf Stakes . In 2014, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) inaugurated a one mile stakes race on turf at Belmont Park in Forbidden Apple's honor. Open to horses age four and older, the event's first winner was the colt Sayaad, owned by the Shadwell Stable . In 2019 the Forbidden Apple Stakes was given Grade 3 status and transferred to Saratoga Race Course . In 2023
28-586: A time of 1:38.27 on a soft yielding turf track. From 2014 until 2018 the event was held at Belmont Park. In 2019 the event was moved to Saratoga. That same year the event was classified as Grade III by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association . In 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States , NYRA did not schedule the event in their Saratoga summer meeting. In 2023 NYRA announced that
35-582: A victory in Belmont's Kelso Handicap for the second time. On June 8, 2002, Forbidden Apple attempted to defend his Manhattan Handicap title but finished second to Beat Hollow . He placed multiple times in 2002, coming close in the Bernard Baruch Handicap , Arlington Million , Kelso Handicap and the Breeders' Cup Mile won by Val Royal . Forbidden Apple finished his career on January 25, 2003 with
42-562: The event would be renamed to the Kelso Stakes . The event was renamed in honor of Kelso , Allaire du Pont 's five-time winner of American Horse of the Year honors. Kelso won the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park five times (1960–1964) consecutively at the then distance of 2 miles on the dirt. Speed record: Margins: Most wins: Most wins by an owner: Most wins by
49-567: The same track he then won an Allowance event on October 25, 1998. It would not be until September 16, 2000, that Forbidden Apple won his first graded stakes race, when he took the mile and one-eighth Belmont Breeder's Cup Handicap . He then picked up another graded win in the one mile Kelso Handicap on October 8, 2000. Forbidden Apple earned the biggest win of his career when he won the June 9, 2001 Manhattan Handicap at Belmont Park. He then got what turned out to be his last win on October 6, 2001 with
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