Back in 1984, in the inaugural running of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1), the very classy Princess Rooney put on a performance that would set the tone for the race throughout its next 40 iterations.
Undefeated in six starts as a juvenile in 1982, she won five of six starts the next year, including the Kentucky Oaks, and in 1984 won five races, capped by the then 1 ¼-mile Distaff – the final start of her career – and landed the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top older female.
Princess Rooney. Breeders’ Cup Photo.
Princess Rooney won the very first Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Hollywood Park in 1984
Riding a four-race win streak, Princess Rooney was sent off as the 7-10 favorite over six others in the Distaff, and she did not disappoint. Hounded by Lucky Lucky Lucky through a mile in 1:37, she shook clear and drew off to beat Life’s Magic by 4 ½ lengths in 2:02 4/5, a full second faster than Wild Again’s victory in the Classic an hour later.
Retired with a record of 17-2-1 from 21 starts, in 1991, Princess Rooney became the first Breeders’ Cup winner to be inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame.
The baton was then handed off to runner-up Life’s Magic, who defeated Lady’s Secret the following year, with Lady’s Secret coming back in 1986. Their trainer, D Wayne Lukas, next scored his third straight Distaff victory in 1987 with Sacahuista.
Lukas appeared set to turn the Distaff into his own personal playground the next year with Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors, but it was the undefeated Personal Ensign who would be sent off as the 1-2 favorite as she put her 12-race winning streak on the line in the final race of her career.
With Winning Colors setting the pace and leading by three lengths in the muddy stretch, Personal Ensign seemed doomed to be second-best – or even third.
With five lengths to make up through the final yards, Personal Ensign summoned up every champion in her bloodlines and somehow managed to stick her nose in front at the wire to become the first major horse since Colin in 1908 to retire undefeated in one of the greatest races in history.
They probably could have ended the whole thing then and there, but there was oh, so much more to come.
Consistency has been the hallmark of the race, with favorites coming in 17 times in 40 editions, and fillies or mares sent off at 5-1 or less winning 29 of the said 40.
Which doesn’t mean there haven’t been upsets. And by upsets, we mean upsets, starting with the 1994 Distaff.
Let’s cue Tom Durkin.
As Gary Stevens guided the improbable 47-1 One Dreamer under the wire ahead of a field that included Heavenly Prize, Hollywood Wildcat and Sky Beauty, he proclaimed to all: “You have just witnessed a felony as Gary Stevens has just stolen a horse race! And we’ve got it on videotape!”
Six years later, Spain (the horse, not the country) handed Lukas his 16th Breeders’ Cup win and fourth in the Distaff as she kicked clear of stablemate Surfside in deep stretch at 55.90-1 to return $113.80 to win and key a Lukas exacta of $664.60.
It wasn’t until 2021 that the Distaff saw another triple-digit payoff, with the Japan-based (and stupidly overlooked) Marche Lorraine rewarding her handful of backers with $101.80 for a $2 win bet.
The Distaff (foolishly dubbed the Ladies’ Classic for a period of time we forebear to mention) also has served to showcase some of the most graceful, talented and dominating fillies and mares of their generation.
Foremost amongst them has to be the incomparable Zenyatta, who in her lone appearance in the Distaff in 2009 before an adoring crowd at Santa Anita cemented her persona as one of the best fillies or mares ever to grace a racetrack. A whisker behind them you might put two-time Distaff winners Bayakoa (1989-90), Royal Delta (2012-13), Monomoy Girl (2018, 2020) and, maybe last, never least, Beholder, one of a handful of three-time Breeders’ Cup winners, having taken the 2012 Juvenile Fillies, the 2013 Distaff, and then, after having missed the 2014 and 2015 edition, returning to take the race in 2016 at age 6.
What lies ahead for 2024? Can Thorpedo Anna use a victory as a springboard to Horse of the Year honors? Will a resurgent Idiomatic join Bayakoa and Royal Delta as back-to-back winners? What about 2023 runner-up Randomized, beaten a half-length by Idiomatic last year?
Stay tuned.