The Starlet Stakes is a
Grade I
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
American
Thoroughbred horse race
Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in ...
for two-year-old
fillies
A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use:
*In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old.
*In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, t ...
run over a distance distance of one and one sixteenth miles ( furlongs) on the dirt held annually in early December at
Los Alamitos Race Course
Los Alamitos Race Course is a horse racing track in Cypress, California. The track hosts both thoroughbred and quarter horse racing. The track has the distinction of holding four quarter horse stakes races with purses over $1 million, more than ...
in
Cypress, California. The event currently offers a purse of $300,000.
History
The inaugural running of the event was during the spring meeting of 1979, on 13 April at
Hollywood Park Racetrack
Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to t ...
in
Inglewood, California as a 6 furlong sprint for three-year-olds. The event was won by Eloquent who was ridden by the
US Hall of Fame jockey
Donald Pierce
Donald Pierce is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a cyborg and is commonly an enemy of the X-Men.
The character was portrayed by Boyd Holbrook in the 2017 film '' ...
and trained by
US Hall of Fame trainer
Lazaro S. Barrera in a time of 1:09 flat.
[
The event was not run the following. In 1981 the administration of ]Hollywood Park Racetrack
Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to t ...
decided to hold two new two-year-old events at the end of the racing season with one for colts and geldings, Hollywood Futurity
The Los Alamitos Futurity is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-olds run over a distance distance of one and one sixteenth miles ( furlongs) on the dirt held annually in early December at Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, ...
and for fillies the Hollywood Starlet Stakes. The races were held on consecutive weekends with the Hollywood Starlet Stakes run on 21 November while the Futurity was held on 28 November.
With high stakes that were offered for the race the event attracted many fine two-year-old fillies. Within two years, in 1983 the American Graded Stakes Committee {{short description, Organization for Thoroughbred racehorse owners and breeders
The American Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) based in Lexington, Kentucky is a trade organization for Thoroughbred racehorse owners and breeder ...
classified the event with the highest grading of Grade I
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
. That year the US Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas saddled the first of eight victories in the event with Althea winning and US Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. in the reins.[ Althea would be voted an ]Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th-century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse.
An Eclipse Award Trophy is presented to the winner in each division that is made by a few small selected American ...
as the American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly for 1983.
In 1984 the Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, ...
was initiated and held at Hollywood Park Hollywood Park may refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California
* Hollywood Park, Chicago, a neighborhood in North Park, Chicago, Illinois
* Hollywood Park, Inglewood, an entertainment complex and m ...
, the winner by protest of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Outstandingly would three weeks later confirm her dominance with another win over Fran's Valentine to win the Hollywood Starlet[ and capture US Champion Two-Year-Old Filly honors.
In 1985 the distance of the event was decreased to one mile.] After six runnings the distance was reverted back to a distance of miles.
In 2003, Hollywood Story became the first maiden to win the Starlet in the history of the event.
In 2006 the event was run on a new synthetic Cushion Track The track surface of a horse racing track refers to the material of which the track is made. There are three types of track surfaces used in modern horse racing. These are:
* Turf, the most common track surface in Europe
*Dirt, the most common trac ...
which was installed at Hollywood Park.
With the closure of Hollywood Park Racetrack in 2013 the event was moved Los Alamitos Race Course
Los Alamitos Race Course is a horse racing track in Cypress, California. The track hosts both thoroughbred and quarter horse racing. The track has the distinction of holding four quarter horse stakes races with purses over $1 million, more than ...
and renamed to the Starlet Stakes.
The Starlet Stakes is the final major race of the year for young fillies and is frequented by horses coming out of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
As a supplementary entry of $10,000 Abel Tasman
Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New ...
started at 13-1 and won the event in 2016. The following year Abel Tasman had an excellent season winning three Grade I events including the Kentucky Oaks
The Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers at Churchill Downs; the horses carry . The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Friday ...
and was voted US Champion 3-Year-Old Filly.
Records
Speed record:
* miles (dirt): 1:41.82 - Splendid Blended (2004)
* miles (synthetic): 1:40.54 - Country Star
{{Infobox racehorse
, horsename = Country Star
, image =
, caption =
, sire = Empire Maker
, grandsire = Unbridled
, dam = Rings A Chime
, damsire = Metfield
, sex = Filly
, foaled = 2005
, country = United States
, colour = Dark Ba ...
(2007)
* 1 mile: 1:35.00 – Stocks Up (1998)
Margins:
* 11 lengths – Love Lock (1997)
Most wins by an owner:
* 3 – Baoma Corporation (2019, 2020, 2021)
Most wins by a jockey:
* 4 – Corey Nakatani
Corey S. Nakatani (born October 21, 1970 in Covina, California, United States) is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He got his big break in 1990 when he rode Itsallgreektome to win big stakes races.
Nakatani has long resided on the S ...
(1992, 1994, 1995, 1996)
* 4 – Drayden Van Dyke
Drayden Van Dyke (born September 10, 1994, in Louisville, Kentucky) is a jockey in thoroughbred racing. At graded stakes races, Van Dyke has won 67 events ranging from Grade I to Grade III. Of these wins, Van Dyke has won both the Starlet Stakes ...
(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Most wins by a trainer:
* 9 – Bob Baffert
Robert A. Baffert (born January 13, 1953) is an American racehorse trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakn ...
(1998, 2001, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
Winners
''Legend:''
''Notes:''
§ Ran as an entry
Entry may refer to:
*Entry, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States
*Entry (cards), a term used in trick-taking card-games
*Entry (economics), a term in connection with markets
*Entry (film), ''Entry'' (film), a 2013 Indian ...
See also
* List of American and Canadian Graded races
The List of American and Canadian Graded races is a list of Thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada that meet the graded stakes standards maintained by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders ...
* Road to the Kentucky Oaks
References
{{Reflist, 2
Horse races in California
Los Alamitos, California
Flat horse races for two-year-old fillies
Grade 1 stakes races in the United States
Graded stakes races in the United States
1979 establishments in California