Beau Purple was withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby, a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, after his 1960 Derby Trial Stakes win and has ran only four times in 1961.
After winning the 1960 Derby Trial Stakes, Beau Purple was withdrawn from the Kentucky Derby as a result of a sore left front shin. He ran only four times in 1961, but had his best year at age five in 1962. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles (2.0 km) at Churchill Downs. 
