The Yonkers Racecourse can be found at Yonkers in New York, situated between Yonkers Avenue and Central Park Avenue. It was originally an 8 furlong track called Empire City Race Track which opened on 4th September 1899 entirely for harness racing. However, in 1907 it was purchased by James Butler, who had made his fortune from selling groceries, and relaunched it as a horse race track. The track became famous in 1936 when the great Seabiscuit contested, and won, the Scarsdale Handicap. The last flat race meeting to take place at the racecourse was in 1942, and it then reverted to harness racing. A name change occurred on 27th April 1950 when it became known as Yonkers Raceway. Today it is a 4 furlong oval dirt course with 200 metre home straight, run as Yonkers Raceway purely for harness racing with the principal race being the Messenger Stakes, which forms part of the Harness Racing Triple Crown. The Messenger Stakes was launched in 1955 and named after Messenger, an English horse which lived from 1780 to 1808 and was a prolific sire from which the vast majority of harness racehorses emanate from. It was first run at Yonkers in 1988, returning to the track from 2006 onwards.

I am grateful to Richard Gauthier for the rare badge shown above.

Messenger Stakes winners when run at Yonkers Raceway in 1988 and from 2006 onwards
1988 The Messenger Stakes was won by Matts Scooter trained by Harry Poulton and ridden by Michel Lachance
2006 The Messenger Stakes was won by Palone Ranger trained by Gregory Peck and ridden by Ronald Pierce
2007 The Messenger Stakes was won by Always A Virgin trained by Joe Holloway and ridden by Brett Sears
2008 The Messenger Stakes was won by Somebeachsomewhere trained by Brent MacGrath and ridden by Paul MacDonell
2009 The Messenger Stakes was won by If I Can Dream trained by Tracy Brainard and ridden by Tim Tetrick
2010 The Messenger Stakes was won by Rock N Roll trained by Bruce Saunders and ridden by Daniel Dube
2011 The Messenger Stakes was won by Roll With Joe trained by Edward Hart and ridden by Ronald Pierce
2012 The Messenger Stakes was won by Bolt The Duer trained by Peter Foley and ridden by Mark MacDonald
2013 The Messenger Stakes was won by Ronny Bugatti trained by Allan Johnson and ridden by Jason Bartlett
2014 The Messenger Stakes was won by All Bets Off trained by Ron Burke and ridden by Matt Kakaley
2015 The Messenger Stakes was won by Revenge Shark trained by Tony Alagna and ridden by Yannick Gingras
2016 The Messenger Stakes was won by Racing Hill trained by Tony Alagna and ridden by Brett Miller
2017 The Messenger Stakes was won by Downbytheseaside trained by Brian Brown and ridden by Brian Sears
2018 The Messenger Stakes was won by Stay Hungry trained by Tony Alagna and ridden by Doug McNair