Run as The Edgemere Handicap until 1981. The RED SMITH Handicap honors the late Walter "Red" Smith. A Pulitzer Prize winner in 1976 and sports columnist for over 45 years, Red Smith was one of the nation's most honored and respected writers.
The Edgemere Handicap was also the name of a mile and a furlong race on the main track last run in 1957. Run at a mile and a sixteenth in 1977; a mile and three sixteenths from 1963 to 1967; a mile and a quarter from 1972 to 1976, and from 1978 to 1993. Run at Belmont Park from 1960 to 1962, and from 1968 to 1993. Run in two divisions in 1977, 1983, and 1986. Not run in 1979. Run on Belmont's main track in 1984. Run on the main track at Aqueduct in 1997.