Background Check

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is Belmont's GI Frizette S., a race with a tremendous amount of repercussion on the sport. The 1905 mare Frizette, for whom this 2-year-old filly race is named, may have been just a minor sprint stakes winner, but she was an absolute giant in the breeding shed. A foundation mare in both the U.S. and France, Frizette's descendants through her daughters include one of yesteryear's top...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is the GI TVG Del Mar Debutante S., a race with a surprising amount of repercussion on the sport. First run the year before Queen Elizabeth II took the throne, the Del Mar Debutante has seen 72 winners, with D. Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert together combining for more than a quarter of those visits to the winner's circle. It's been run on Polytrack; it's been...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is the GI Spinaway S., currently the first Grade I of the year for 2-year-olds in the country. Dating to 1881, back when the Kentucky Derby was running for just the seventh time, President James Garfield was assassinated in office, and there was what would become a legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral, the Spinaway has seen its share of history. The race itself is named...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is the GI Alabama S., one of the oldest stakes races in the country. Dating to 1872, eight years after the first Travers S. was run and 12 years after the first Queen's Plate (the oldest stakes race in North America), the Alabama is the last leg in New York's Triple Tiara following the GI Acorn S. and the GI Coaching Club American Oaks. The major-league...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is the GI Longines Test S., a prestigious 3-year old filly event on the Saratoga calendar for the past century. Ah, the Test, the glorious Test. Remember the scintillating call--already 20 years ago--by Tom Durkin during the epic stretch battle between You and Carson Hollow? This race has been so good for so long. At seven furlongs since its second edition, it has delivered pulsating stretch...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is the GI Coaching Club American Oaks, a significant 3-year old filly event on the Saratoga calendar. The CCA Oaks is one of the revered traditions in the sophomore filly ranks. Like so many other races that have a century's worth of history, it has changed both distances and venues multiple times. The race began at nine furlongs in 1917 and was shortened to that distance...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is Saratoga's GI Diana S., contested at 1 1/8 miles on the lawn. These days, the Diana is restricted to fillies and mares ages four and up. That wasn't always the case, as a number of 3-year-old fillies have won in the past. That's not the only thing that's changed: the Diana is such a fixture on the grass that it may come as a surprise...

Good or bad, stallion careers are almost always well documented with hard facts at the ready. It's no secret certain races--for instance, the GI Met Mile--have historically been known as stallion-making races, with that race in particular flaunting the lethal combination of both speed and stamina on a big stage. Fappiano (1981), Buckpasser (1967), and Native Dancer (1954) were among the Met Mile winners who later made incredible impacts at stud, whether through their sons or daughters or both. Quality Road (2010) is currently doing the same. This year's winner,...