annual American race for three-year-old trotters, one of harness racing's most widely known events. The Hambletonian was first held in 1926 at Syracuse, N.Y. It was later moved to Goshen, N.Y., in 1957 to Du Quoin, Ill., and in 1981 to Meadowlands (N.J.) Racetrack. To win the Hambletonian a horse must win two 1-mile heats. The race was named for Hambletonian (Rysdyk's Hambletonian), the foundation sire of most modern trotting horses in the United States.