Brooklyn Stakes

The Brooklyn Stakes (formerly known as the Brooklyn Handicap) is an American Thoroughbred horse race run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, on Long Island. It currently is a Grade II event open to four-year-olds and up willing to race one and one-half miles on dirt. It was a Grade 1 race prior to 1993.

First run on May 14, 1887, at Gravesend Race Track on Coney Island, New York, it was won by Emery & Cotton's Dry Monopole in track record time for the mile and one-quarter distance. A versatile horse, a year earlier on June 15, 1886, Dry Monopole had won America's first ever Thoroughbred flat race on turf. The Brooklyn Handicap quickly became one of the top attractions on the New York racing circuit, drawing some of the best Thoroughbreds.

The race was once the second leg of what is sometimes referred to as the New York Handicap Triple series of races.^{[citation needed]} It was preceded by the Metropolitan Handicap and followed by the Suburban Handicap. Four horses won the Handicap Triple:

Since inception the race has been held at:

The Brooklyn Handicap has been contested at a variety of distances:

The 2024 Brooklyn Stakes was run at Aqueduct Racetrack due to construction at Belmont Park. In May 2025 it was announced that the Brooklyn would not be run that year, with plans to return it to the racing schedule at Belmont in the fall of 2026. The decision would allow the race to retain its Grade II status.

Stakes record: (at current distance of 1+1⁄2 miles)

Most wins: