The Bel Air Handicap was a Thoroughbred horse race

Thoroughbred horse race

Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...

 run in mid July at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California

Inglewood, California

Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...

. Open to horses age three and older, it was contested on dirt at a distance of a mile and a sixteenth. In its final year it was a Grade III event http://horseracing.about.com/library/weekly/aa113001a.htm offering a purse of U.S.$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

$100,000.

First run in 1939, the Bel Air Handicap was not run again until 1968. From 1980 through 1982 there was no race run.

In 1997, winner Crafty Friend equaled the Hollywood Park track record for a mile and a sixteenth with a time of 1:40 flat.

Winners

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
2001	Smile Again	6	Laffit Pincay, Jr. Laffit Pincay, Jr. Laffit Alejandro Pincay, Jr. is a flat racing's all-time winningest jockey. He competed primarily in the United States.-Career:...	Ron McAnally Ron McAnally Ronald L. McAnally is an American Hall of Fame trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing. Called "one of the most honored and respected of North American trainers" by Thoroughbred Times Co., Inc, as a child, he and his four siblings were placed in an orphanage following the death of their mother...	Sidney Sidney Craig Sidney Harvey Craig was the business partner and husband of Jenny Craig, the fitness expert. Together, they founded the weight management company Jenny Craig, Inc. and expanded the company throughout the United States, Australia, and Canada.-Early life:Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he was...  & Jenny Craig Jenny Craig Jenny Craig is an American weight loss guru and founder of Jenny Craig, Inc. Craig was raised in New Orleans and married Sidney Harvey Craig in 1979. In 1983, she and her husband created a nutrition, fitness, and weight loss program in Australia...	1:41.74
2000	Euchre	4	Alex Solis Alex Solis Alex O. Solis is a jockey based in the United States. He currently lives in Glendora, California and rides predominantly in Southern California...	Robert J. Frankel	Frank Stronach Frank Stronach Frank Stronach, CM is an Austrian-Canadian businessman. He is the founder of Magna International, an international automotive parts company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, and Magna Entertainment Corp., which specializes in horse-racing entertainment...	1:41.76
1999	River Keen	7	Chris Antley Chris Antley Christopher Wiley Antley was a champion American jockey.He was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida but grew up in Elloree, South Carolina. He left school at sixteen to ride horses professionally at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. His first win was on a horse named Vaya Con Dinero...	Bob Baffert Bob Baffert Robert A. "Bob" Baffert is an American horse owner and trainer, whose horses have won three Kentucky Derbies, five Preakness Stakes, one Belmont Stakes and two Kentucky Oaks. He graduated from the University of Arizona's with a Bachelor of Science degree. -Early career:Bob Baffert began his...	Hugo Reynolds	1:40.69
1998	Free House Free House (horse) Free House was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that Blood-Horse Publications called one of the best California-bred horses of all time. A descendant of Nearco through both his sire and dam, he was bred and raced by John Toffan & Trudy McCaffery...	4	Chris McCarron Chris McCarron Christopher John "Chris" McCarron is a retired American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. He is currently working as a racing analyst for TVG Network....	Paco Gonzalez Paco González Francisco "Paco" González is a Spanish sport journalist.Gonzalez was born in Madrid in 1966, but raised in Folgueras de Cornás . He returned to Madrid to study journalism at Complutense University. He started work as an intern at broadcaster Cadena SER in 1987 and did not graduate...	Toffan & McCaffery Trudy McCaffery Trudy V. McCaffery was a prominent Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder in California who served on the Board of Directors of the Edwin J...	1:41.60
1997	Crafty Friend	4	Alex Solis Alex Solis Alex O. Solis is a jockey based in the United States. He currently lives in Glendora, California and rides predominantly in Southern California...	Wallace Dollase Wallace Dollase Wallace A. "Wally" Dollase is an American trainer and owner of Thoroughbred racehorses.Among his numerous Graded stakes race wins, Dollase won the 1996 Breeders' Cup Distaff with Jewel Princess who was voted that year's Eclipse Award as the American Champion Older Female Horse.Wally Dollase and...	The Thoroughbred Corp. The Thoroughbred Corp. The Thoroughbred Corporation is a Thoroughbred horse racing and breeding operation established in 1994 by principal partner Prince Ahmed bin Salman of the Saudi Arabian royal family...	1:40.00
1996	Cleante	7	Chris McCarron Chris McCarron Christopher John "Chris" McCarron is a retired American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. He is currently working as a racing analyst for TVG Network....	Ron McAnally Ron McAnally Ronald L. McAnally is an American Hall of Fame trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing. Called "one of the most honored and respected of North American trainers" by Thoroughbred Times Co., Inc, as a child, he and his four siblings were placed in an orphanage following the death of their mother...	Janis R. Whitham	nf
1995	Soul of the Matter	4	Gary Stevens	Richard Mandella Richard Mandella Richard Eugene Mandella is a Thoroughbred horse trainer and a member of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame....	Burt Bacharach Burt Bacharach Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...	1:41.00