The Zenyatta Stakes is a

Grade II 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

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 ...

and

mares A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four y ...

, age three and older the distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt scheduled annually in September at

Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

Arcadia, California Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of th ...

. The event currently carries a purse of $200,000.

History

The event was named after

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Lady's Secret Lady's Secret (April 8, 1982 – March 4, 2003) was an American Eclipse Award winning Thoroughbred racemare that was listed in the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century. Lady's Secret was bred by Robert H. Spreen at Lucas Farm in Oklah ...

who had won the 1986

Breeders' Cup Distaff The Breeders' Cup Distaff is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares, 3 years old and up. Known as the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic between 2008 and 2012, it is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or ...

at Santa Anita Park. The event was inaugurated on 11 October 1993 as the Lady's Secret Handicap and was won by the odds-on favorite

Hollywood Wildcat {{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Hollywood Wildcat , image = , caption = , sire = Kris S. , grandsire = Roberto , dam = Miss Wildcatter , damsire = Mr. Prospector , sex = Filly , foaled = 1990 , country = United States , colour = B ...

who was ridden by US Hall of Fame

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

Eddie Delahoussaye Edward J. Delahoussaye (born September 21, 1951) is a retired American Thoroughbred jockey from New Iberia, Louisiana. He began his career in 1968 and ten years later became the top American jockey with 384 wins. He has won the Kentucky Derby in ...

in a time of 1:41.05. In her following start

won the

at Santa Anita Park. The following year Hollywood Wildcat repeated her victory leading all the way to a comfortable length margin. After two runnings of the event was classified by the American Graded Stakes Committee as Grade III and was upgraded to Grade II status in 1996. In 2007 the event was upgraded to Grade I. After the 2009 running, it was announced that the race would be renamed the Zenyatta Stakes, on the assumption that

Zenyatta Zenyatta (foaled April 1, 2004) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Breeders' Cup Classic and Breeders' Cup Distaff and 19 of her 20 starts. She was the 2010 American Horse of the Year, and Champion Older Female in 2008, ...

(who had won the race in 2008 and 2009) would retire at the end of 2009. That change, however, was held off for 2010 at the behest of the mare's connections. For 2010, it was again run as the Lady's Secret Stakes because Zenyatta was in the field, winning the race for the third time. The race was again run as the Lady's Secret Stakes in 2011 but was then run under its new name in 2012. Beholder was able to equal Zenyatta's record of winning the event three times in 2015. After winning the 2012

Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies is a -mile thoroughbred horse race on dirt (although the distance has varied, depending on the configuration of the host track) for two-year-old fillies run annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the Uni ...

at Santa Anita, Beholder won this event as a three-year-old before winning the

which also was held at Santa Anita. After winning this event in 2014 and 2015 Beholder did not enter the Breeder's Cup. In the 2016 running of the event, Beholder ran for the fourth time and was beaten by a nose by

Stellar Wind A stellar wind is a flow of gas ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star. It is distinguished from the bipolar outflows characteristic of young stars by being less collimated, although stellar winds are not generally spherically symmetric. D ...

, however she turned the tables winning the

for a second time in her last career start. In 2019 the event was downgraded to Grade II.

Records

Speed record: * 1:40.30 -

(2008) Margins: * lengths –

Azeri Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...

(2002) * lengths –

(2008) Most wins: * 3 -

(2008, 2009, 2010) * 3 - Beholder (2013, 2014, 2015) Most wins by a

: * 5 -

Mike E. Smith Michael Earl Smith (born August 10, 1965) is an American jockey who has been one of the leading riders in U.S. Thoroughbred racing since the early 1990s, was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2003, and has won the ...

(2002, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014) Most wins by a trainer: * 5 -

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 Preakne ...

(1998, 2007, 2018, 2021, 2022) Most wins by an owner: * 4 - Ann & Jerry Moss (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)

Winners

''Legend:''

''Notes:'' § Ran as an entry

External links

Oak Tree Honors Zenyatta with Grade 1 race

References

Mile category horse races for fillies and mares Horse races in California Grade 2 stakes races in the United States Breeders' Cup Challenge series Recurring sporting events established in 1993 Santa Anita Park 1993 establishments in California {{Commons category, Santa Anita Park

History

Records

Winners

See also

External links

References