Essex Handicap

Southland Handicap The event was inaugurated on 13 March 1948 as the Southland Handicap a $5,000 handicap event for three-year-olds and older and was won by William H. Bishop owner and trained six-year-old Boden's Pal in a time 1:43. Illinois horsemen had an impact on the early runnings of the event. The 1949 running was won by Jean Denemark's entry of three-year-old Provocative and Enforcer in a small four horse field. From Lisle, Illinois, her husband, Emil Denemark, was an established horse breeder who died in 1963. Another horse in this era to make an impact was the dual winner Little Imp who won in 1953 and 1955. The son of the 1943 Arkansas Derby winner Seven Hearts also finished second in 1952 and third in 1954. In 1954 the distance of the event was decreased to 1 mile and 70 yards. but it was not held. In 1972 the winner of the event, Sado carried 125 lbs, the highest weight by a winner. Sado became the third horse to win the event for the second time as the 6/5 favorite winning by a half length margin in a field of nine. which was also located in Hot Springs, Arkansas and was destroyed by fire in the early 20th century. In 1976 the conditions of the event were changed that three-year-old could not be entered In 1987 the distance of the event was increased by forty yards to one and one-sixteenth miles. ==Records==