The Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap was a Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 horse race

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 first run in September 1973 at Belmont Park

Belmont Park

Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...

 in Elmont, New York

Elmont, New York

Elmont is an unincorporated census-designated place located in the northwest corner of the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, along its border with the borough of Queens in New York City...

. A Grade 1

Graded stakes race

A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...

 race for horses 3 years old and up, it was raced over a distance of 1 1/8 miles on a dirt track.

The race came into existence as a result of the huge popularity of Secretariat

Secretariat (horse)

Secretariat was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, that in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in 25 years, setting new race records in two of the three events in the Series—the Kentucky Derby , and the Belmont Stakes —records that still stand today.Secretariat was sired by Bold...

 who in 1973 had become the first U.S. Triple Crown

Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...

 champion in twenty-five years. Such was the drawing power of Secretariat that CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 television readily agreed to broadcast the race nationally, a rare occurrence at the time for a non Triple Crown or traditional "classic" event (such as the Travers Stakes

Travers Stakes

The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...

). Originally conceived as a match race

Match race

A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.The term may be best known as a race between two sailing boats racing around a course...

 with stable mate and 1972 Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 winner Riva Ridge

Riva Ridge

Riva Ridge was a thoroughbred racehorse, the winner of the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. A son of First Landing out of Iberia , he was owned and bred by the Meadow Stable of Christopher Chenery. The horse's name came from Chenery's son-in-law, John Tweedy, who was a soldier in World War...

, it was changed to an invitational race that would bring together the top horses 3 years of age and older.

The inaugural race more than lived up to its expectations with Secretariat setting a new world record

World record

A world record is usually the best global performance ever recorded and verified in a specific skill or sport. The book Guinness World Records collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond...

 time for 1 1/8 miles on dirt while winning by three-and-a-half lengths. The race became a very important annual event and 1978 marked the first of only two times in racing history that two American Triple Crown winners met in a single race, with Seattle Slew

Seattle Slew

Seattle Slew was an American Thoroughbred race horse who won the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in 1977, the tenth of eleven horses to accomplish the feat. He remains the only horse to win the Triple Crown while undefeated. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S...

, the 1977 champion, defeated the 1978 champion Affirmed

Affirmed

Affirmed was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the eleventh and most recent winner of the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing...

 by three lengths (the two met again in that year's edition of the Jockey Club Gold Cup; Seattle Slew lost by a bare nose to Exceller, while Affirmed finished up the track due to a slipped saddle).

For many years it was part of Belmont Park's Fall Championship meet—in fact, the track created a Fall Championship Series consisting of the Marlboro Cup, the Woodward Stakes

Woodward Stakes

The Woodward Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race and is one of the premier races for older thoroughbred horses in the United States. Named for prominent racehorse owner, George Nicholas Woodward, it is run at 1⅛ miles on the dirt for a purse of $750,000.The Woodward was run as a handicap in...

, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup (not necessarily in that order). CBS and later NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 continued to carry the Marlboro into the 1980s.

The advent of the Breeders' Cup

Breeders' Cup

The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Thoroughbred horse races, most but not all Grade I, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, it expanded to two days. The location...

 races in 1984 marked the beginning of the end for the Marlboro Cup. In 1987, the 15th edition of the race attracted just five horses and was picked up for broadcast on cable television

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 only.

Records

Speed record:

• 1:45.40 - Secretariat
  Secretariat (horse)
  Secretariat was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, that in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in 25 years, setting new race records in two of the three events in the Series—the Kentucky Derby , and the Belmont Stakes —records that still stand today.Secretariat was sired by Bold...
  
   (1973) (new stakes, track, and world record
  World record
  A world record is usually the best global performance ever recorded and verified in a specific skill or sport. The book Guinness World Records collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond...
  
  )

Most wins:

• No horse won this race more than once.

Most wins by a jockey

Jockey

A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

:

• 3 - Jacinto Vasquez
  Jacinto Vásquez
  Jacinto Vásquez is a retired Hall of Fame thoroughbred jockey. He rode two Kentucky Derby winners, Foolish Pleasure in 1975 and Genuine Risk in 1980, but may be best known as the regular jockey for the great filly Ruffian.-Biography:...
  
   (1977, 1982, 1983)

Most wins by a trainer

Horse trainer

In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

:

• 2 - MacKenzie Miller
  MacKenzie Miller
  Mackenzie Todd Miller was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and owner/breeder. During his forty-six year career, he conditioned seventy-two stakes winners, including four Eclipse Award champions....
  
   (1980, 1987)

Most wins by an owner:

• 2 - Rokeby Stables
  Rokeby Stables
  Rokeby Stables was an American thoroughbred racehorse breeding farm in Upperville, Virginia involved with both steeplechase and flat racing. The operation was established in the late 1940s by Paul Mellon who won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder in 1971 and again in 1986...
  
   (1980, 1987)

Winners

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1973	Secretariat Secretariat (horse) Secretariat was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, that in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in 25 years, setting new race records in two of the three events in the Series—the Kentucky Derby , and the Belmont Stakes —records that still stand today.Secretariat was sired by Bold...	3	Ron Turcotte Ron Turcotte Ron Joseph Morel Turcotte, CM is a Hall of Fame thoroughbred race horse jockey best known as the rider of Secretariat, winner of the U.S. Triple Crown in 1973....	Lucien Laurin Lucien Laurin Lucien Laurin was a French-Canadian jockey and Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse trainer.-Life and career:...	Meadow Stable Penny Chenery Helen Bates "Penny" Chenery Tweedy is an American sportswoman who bred and raced Secretariat, the 1973 winner of the Triple Crown...	1:45.40
1974	Big Spruce Big Spruce Big Spruce was an American Thoroughbred racehorseHe was bred by Maxwell H. Gluck at his famous Elmendorf Farm in Kentucky, and trained for Gluck by Lefty Nickerson....	5	Michael Hole Michael Hole Michael "Mike" Hole was a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing.Born in Canterbury, England, Michael Hole moved to the United States in 1961 where he rode professionally for fourteen years, winning 2042 races while riding horses to earnings of US$13,520,479...	Victor J. Nickerson Victor J. Nickerson Victor J. "Lefty" Nickerson was an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer. He embarked on a career as a professional trainer in 1953, working primarily at racetracks in the Northeastern United States...	Elmendorf Farm	1:46.60
1975	Wajima Wajima (horse) Wajima was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred by Bull Hancock's renowned Claiborne Farm of Paris, Kentucky. He was out of the French mare Iskra, a daughter of Le Haar, the Leading sire in France in 1963. Wajima was a son of one of America's greatest sires, Bold Ruler...	3	Braulio Baeza Braulio Baeza Braulio Baeza is an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. He began racing in 1955 and in 1960, at the urging of agent Camilo Marin, moved to compete in the United States where at the Keeneland Race Course he won the very first he competed in.Braulio Baeza's success in America was...	Stephen A. DiMauro Stephen A. DiMauro Stephen A. "Steve" DiMauro is a retired jockey, Champion trainer and successful breeder and owner in American Thoroughbred horse racing....	East-West Stable	2:00.00
1976	Forego Forego Forego was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won eight Eclipse Awards including Horse of the Year, Champion Handicap Horse and Champion Sprinter....	6	Bill Shoemaker	Frank Y. Whiteley, Jr. Frank Y. Whiteley, Jr. Frank Yewell Whiteley, Jr. was a Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainer.Born and raised on a farm in Centreville, Maryland, Whiteley grew up around horses and from a very early age was intent on racing them. Developing his skills, by age twenty-one he had embarked on a professional training...	Lazy F Ranch Martha F. Gerry Martha B. Farish Gerry was an American Thoroughbred racehorse owner named an Exemplar of Racing by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame....	2:00.00
1977	Proud Birdie Proud Birdie Proud Birdie was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his upset win in the G1 Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap. Bred in Florida, he was sired by 1967 Kentucky Derby winner Proud Clarion and out of the mare Bernie Bird, a daughter of the speedy Del Mar Derby winner, Bolero.-Racing...	4	Jacinto Vasquez Jacinto Vásquez Jacinto Vásquez is a retired Hall of Fame thoroughbred jockey. He rode two Kentucky Derby winners, Foolish Pleasure in 1975 and Genuine Risk in 1980, but may be best known as the regular jockey for the great filly Ruffian.-Biography:...	James W. Maloney James W. Maloney James W. "Jim" Maloney was an American Hall of Fame trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses. The son of a trainer, his own professional career lasted fifty years from 1935 until his death in 1984....	Marablue Farm	2:00.80
1978	Seattle Slew Seattle Slew Seattle Slew was an American Thoroughbred race horse who won the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in 1977, the tenth of eleven horses to accomplish the feat. He remains the only horse to win the Triple Crown while undefeated. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S...	4	Angel Cordero, Jr.	Douglas R. Peterson	Karen & Mickey Taylor	1:45.80
1979	Spectacular Bid Spectacular Bid Spectacular Bid was an American Thoroughbred race horse. "The Bid" as he was known was one of the most dominant gallopers of his time...	3	Bill Shoemaker	Bud Delp Bud Delp Grover Greer "Bud" Delp was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainer best remembered for his conditioning of Hall of Fame colt, Spectacular Bid....	Hawksworth Farm	1:46.60
1980	Winter's Tale Winter's Tale (horse) Winter's Tale was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Regally bred by owner Paul Mellon, his sire was U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Arts and Letters, a son of a European superstar, the undefeated runner and British Champion sire, Ribot. His dam, Christmas Wind, was a Canadian daughter of E. P...	4	Jeffrey Fell Jeffrey Fell Jeffrey J. Fell is a retired jockey and a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee who was also a successful rider in the United States.-References:* * *...	MacKenzie Miller MacKenzie Miller Mackenzie Todd Miller was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and owner/breeder. During his forty-six year career, he conditioned seventy-two stakes winners, including four Eclipse Award champions....	Rokeby Stables Rokeby Stables Rokeby Stables was an American thoroughbred racehorse breeding farm in Upperville, Virginia involved with both steeplechase and flat racing. The operation was established in the late 1940s by Paul Mellon who won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder in 1971 and again in 1986...	1:47.00
1981	Noble Nashua Noble Nashua Noble Nashua was an American Thoroughbred racehorse bred in Kentucky by Theiline Scheumann's Grousemont Farm. Impeccably bred, he was sired by U.S...	3	Ruben Hernandez	Jose A. Martin Jose A. Martin Jose A. Martin was an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer who trained three Champions as well as multiple Grade I winner, Noble Nashua.Jose Martin was the son of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer Frank "Pancho" Martin...	Flying Zee Stable	2:00.60
1982	Lemhi Gold Lemhi Gold Lemhi Gold was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse. Bred and raced by Eugene, Oregon lumberman Aaron U. Jones and his wife, Marie, he was sired by Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner, Vaguely Noble, who also sired the superstar filly, Dahlia...	4	Jacinto Vasquez Jacinto Vásquez Jacinto Vásquez is a retired Hall of Fame thoroughbred jockey. He rode two Kentucky Derby winners, Foolish Pleasure in 1975 and Genuine Risk in 1980, but may be best known as the regular jockey for the great filly Ruffian.-Biography:...	Laz Barrera Laz Barrera Lazaro Sosa Barrera was a Cuban-born American Hall of Fame thoroughbred racehorse trainer.Born in Havana, "Laz" Barrera was one of nine brothers who went on to become involved in thoroughbred horse racing in the United States...	Aaron U. Jones	2:01.00
1983	Highland Blade Highland Blade Highland Blade was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won Grade I stakes on both dirt and turf, taking the Brooklyn, Marlboro Cup Invitational, and Pan American Handicaps. He was owned by Pen-Y-Bryn Farm, a partnership founded in 1971 by brothers William W. and Thomas M. Bancroft, Jr. of...	5	Jacinto Vasquez Jacinto Vásquez Jacinto Vásquez is a retired Hall of Fame thoroughbred jockey. He rode two Kentucky Derby winners, Foolish Pleasure in 1975 and Genuine Risk in 1980, but may be best known as the regular jockey for the great filly Ruffian.-Biography:...	David A. Whiteley David A. Whiteley David A. Whiteley is a retired American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer who trained three Champions and who in 1979 won the third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown.The son of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Frank Y...	Pen-Y-Bryn Farm	2:01.20
1984	Slew o' Gold	4	Angel Cordero, Jr.	John O. Hertler	Equusequity Stable	2:02.40
1985	Chief's Crown Chief's Crown Chief's Crown was an American-bred Thoroughbred race horse who won the 1984 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Two-Year-Old Male Horse. He later became a successful sire.-Background:...	3	Don MacBeth Don MacBeth Donald MacBeth was a Canadian jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing.Born in Red Deer, Alberta, Macbeth rode horses at Alberta racetracks before going to race in the United States. Among horses of note, he rode Deputy Minister, winner of the 1981 Sovereign and Eclipse awards for Outstanding...	Roger Laurin Roger Laurin Roger Laurin is a trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses in the United States and Canada. He has trained Champions Numbered Account, the 1971 American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly, and Chief's Crown, the 1984 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner.-A family business:Roger...	Star Crown Stable	2:01.20
1986	Turkoman Turkoman (horse) Turkoman is an American thoroughbred stallion racehorse. Owned and bred by Corbin J. Robertson, he was sired by 1989 United States Racing Hall of Fame inductee Alydar out of the Table Play mare, Taba, who was the Champion 2 year old Filly in Argentina.Raced under Corbin J. Robertson's Saron Stable...	4	Gary Stevens	Gary F. Jones Gary F. Jones Gary F. Jones is a retired trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses whose career began in 1974 and ended with his retirement at the end of July, 1996 having earned $52,672,611 in purses and the winner of 1,465 races including 102 graded stakes.Among the outstanding horses trained by Gary Jones were Hall...	Saron Stable	2:00.00
1987	Java Gold Java Gold Java Gold is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won Grade 1 races and sired two Champions.Bred by Paul Mellon, and raced by his Rokeby Stables, Java Gold notably won the 1986 Remsen Stakes at age two and the Grades 1 Travers Stakes, Marlboro Cup Invitational and Whitney Handicaps...	3	Pat Day Pat Day Patrick Alan "Pat" Day is an American jockey. He is a four-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991...	MacKenzie Miller MacKenzie Miller Mackenzie Todd Miller was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and owner/breeder. During his forty-six year career, he conditioned seventy-two stakes winners, including four Eclipse Award champions....	Rokeby Stables Rokeby Stables Rokeby Stables was an American thoroughbred racehorse breeding farm in Upperville, Virginia involved with both steeplechase and flat racing. The operation was established in the late 1940s by Paul Mellon who won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder in 1971 and again in 1986...	2:01.00