EXPERIMENTAL FREE HANDICAP AND HISTORY

Hansen, Union Rags top 2011 Experimental Free Handicap

For the 2011 Experimental Free Handicap, go to www.jockeyclub.com/experimental.asp.

Edited press release

Hansen, last year’s champion two-year-old male and undefeated winner of the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), and Union Rags, winner of the Champagne Stakes (G1) and runner-up in the Juvenile, are co-highweighted at 126 pounds on 2011 Experimental Free Handicap.

The filly division is led by last year’s champion two-year-old filly and undefeated Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner My Miss Aurelia at 124 pounds.

The Jockey Club Experimental Free Handicap, published annually since 1935, is a weight-based assessment of the previous year’s leading two-year-olds, with the weights compiled for a hypothetical race at 1 1/16 miles on dirt.

The weighting committee of racing secretaries was once again composed of Ben Huffman of Churchill Downsand Keeneland Race Course, P. J. Campo of the New York Racing Association, and Thomas S. Robbins of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

The committee weighted a total of 130 males and 94 fillies. Eligible for weighting were all two-year-olds of 2011 that finished among the top four in graded or listed stakes races run in the U.S. Listed stakes in 2011 were those with a value of $75,000 or more available to all starters, and no restrictions other than age or sex.

Hansen won all three of his starts last year by a combined 25 1/2 lengths and earned $1,153,305. Owned by Dr. Kendall Hansen and Sky Chai Racing, Hansen won the Bluegrass Cat Kentucky Cup Juvenile Stakes in addition to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He was bred in Kentucky by Dr. Hansen.

Union Rags won three of four starts last year by a combined 14 1/4 lengths, including the Three Chimneys Saratoga Special Stakes (G2), and posted earnings of $858,800. He was bred in Kentucky and is a homebred of Phyllis M. Wyeth.

In the filly division, the 124 pounds assigned to My Miss Aurelia is one pound higher than the standard impost for top Experimental fillies.

Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, My Miss Aurelia won all four of her starts, including the Adirondack (G2) and Frizette (G1) Stakes, by a combined total of 14 1/2 lengths. She is owned by Stonestreet Stables and George Bolton and earned $1,380,000 last year.

Among sires of Experimental horses, Indian Charlie leads the list of colts and geldings with four representatives; Bluegrass Cat, City Zip, Giant's Causeway, High Cotton, Kitten’s Joy, Scat Daddy, Wildcat Heir, and With Distinction have three each.

Hard Spun, Kitten’s Joy, and Lion Heart head the fillies' list with four representatives each. Scat Daddy and Songandaprayer have three each.

Combining the two lists, Kitten’s Joy is the leading sire with seven, followed by Indian Charlie, Lion Heart, and Scat Daddy with six representatives each.

Of the 224 juveniles weighted, 150 were bred in Kentucky, 33 in Florida, seven in California, and six in New York.

All Experimental Free Handicap weight assignments, as well as past performances for those horses, are available within the Publications and Resources section of the Jockey Club's websiteat www.jockeyclub.com/experimental.asp.

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History of the Experimental Free Handicap

The Experimental Free Handicap, published annually by the Jockey Club, is based on a hypothetical 11⁄16-mile race for two-year-olds on dirt. Walter S. Vosburgh, the legendary Jockey Club handicapper, compiled the first Experimental Free Handicap in 1933. He placed Sanford Stakes winner First Minstrel atop his list at 126 pounds, although the filly Mata Hari at 122 pounds effectively was the highweight when considering the five-pound sex allowance then in effect. The 126-pound high weight became the standard impost for a champion of average accomplishment.

Vosburgh, who had been the racing secretary at New York tracks since 1894, retired in 1934, and no Experimental Free Handicap was prepared for that year. John B. Campbell assumed the task in 1935 and continued to compile the list until his death in ’54.

Campbell, also racing secretary at the New York tracks, wrote in a 1943 letter that his Experimental Free Handicap was intended primarily as a forecast of how the horses would perform as three-year-olds. The Experimental, he wrote, “is based mainly upon my opinion of what the two-year-olds will accomplish as three-year-olds and at distances of a mile and a furlong or greater.”

Following Campbell’s death, Frank E. “Jimmy” Kilroe assigned the weights through 1960. Thomas Trotter, who compiled the list through 1972, followed him.

Starting in 1969, at the behest of the Jockey Club, the thrust of the Experimental was changed from a prediction of future performance to a measure of accomplishment during the two-year-old season exclusively.

Kenneth Noe Jr. prepared the Experimental Free Handicap from 1972 through ’75, and Trotter resumed the task in ’76. Beginning in 1979, a committee of three racing secretaries was chosen to establish the Experimental weights. In 1985, for the first time, separate lists were compiled for males and fillies. The 2007 Experimental Free Handicap was prepared by P. J. Campo of the New York Racing Association, Ben Huffman of Keeneland Race Course, and Tom Robbins of Del Mar.

The highest Experimental weight ever assigned was 132 pounds to Count Fleet in 1942; the following year, he won the Triple Crown.