Yellow Ribbon Stakes

Yellow Ribbon Stakes

The Rodeo Drive Stakes is a Grade II race for thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three-years-old and upwards. It is run at Del Mar Racetrack with a purse of $250,000 and is contested over a distance of 1+1⁄₁₆ miles (1,700 meters).

It was raced during the Oak Tree Racing Association meeting at Santa Anita Park in late September / early October. It was a major prep race for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf and is raced over a distance of 1+1⁄₄ miles (2,000 meters) on the turf.

Part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series, the winner of the 2008 Yellow Ribbon Stakes automatically qualifies for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Inaugurated in 1977, it was an Invitational through 1995. The original name for the race was the idea of Oak Tree Founding Director Louis R. Rowan and is taken from the wartime song: "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree."