Santa Margarita Stakes—Top Champion Thoroughbreds Always Seem to Emerge

The Grade 1 Santa Margarita Stakes is annually Santa Anita Park's championship race for fillies and mares. As such, the female counterpart to the historic Santa Anita Handicap has been won by some of the most legendary female racehorses in history, not the least of which was Zenyatta in 2010. Add the fact a member of the distaff set has won Horse of the Year in the United States each of the last three seasons and races like the Santa Margarita have even added cache these days. The Santa Margarita, which will be run March 17, dates back to Santa Anita's inaugural season in 1935, but it wasn't until 1938 that the race was restricted to fillies and mares to act as a complement to the prestigious Big 'Cap. Since 1955, the Santa Margarita Stakes has been contested at 1 1/8-miles, an eighth of a mile shorter than the Big 'Cap. The list of previous winners of the Santa Margarita is splashed with champions and Hall of Famers. In the last 10 years alone, two winners of the Santa Margarita would go on to be named Horse of the Year—Azeri in 2002 and the aforementioned Zenyatta. Go back a little further and you'll find names like Paseana and Bayakoa, who are two of only five horses to have ever twice won the Santa Margarita. Paseana, who won the Santa Margarita in 1992 and 1994, was a two-time champion older female and is in the Racing Hall of Fame. Bayakoa, who is also in the Hall of Fame, won the Santa Margarita during her championship seasons of 1989 and 1990. The 2012 Santa Margarita Stakes is expected to draw a small field of contenders led by the streaking Ellafitz for trainer Bob Baffert, according to Santa Anita. Ellafitz has won three straight contests, which includes the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes earlier in the meet and the Grade 2 Bayakoa Stakes at Hollywood Park prior to that. Baffert, who surprisingly has never won the Santa Margarita during his Hall of Fame career, warned his rivals that Ellafitz could be sitting on a huge performance. “She's in a zone right now,” Baffert said. “Ellafitz runs hard, she runs fast...my mare is doing better for this race than she was doing before the last race.” Ellafitz' main competition in the Santa Margarita figures to come from Include Me Out, winner of the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes in her previous start for trainer Ron Ellis. Others pointing to the Santa Margarita are Awesomemundo and Miss Mittagong. The Santa Margarita Stakes record for 1 1/8-miles was set by Lady's Secret in 1986. The Hall of Fame mare completed the distance in a swift 1:47 flat. Three of the most legendary jockeys of all time are tied for most Santa Margarita wins. Bill Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay Jr., and Chris McCarron all won the race six times to lead all jockeys. Ron McAnally, who trained Paseana and Bayakoa and is still active, has won six Santa Margarita Stakes to lead all trainers.