History's Top 10 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf Performances

The Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) was the first race added to the original seven Breeders’ Cup races. First staged in 1999, it has been won by a number of outstanding fillies and mares from six different countries.

Choosing the best performances to win this race is not easy, but here are 10 of the best.

10. Sistercharlie (2018)

Chad Brown won the Filly & Mare Turf three times in five years (2014-18), and Sistercharlie was among the most admirable. She arrived in 2018 at her peak, having won three of her four starts, but punters still preferred English raider Wild Illusion. However, Sistercharlie recovered from a bump around the first turn, made ground stealthily around the final turn, and ran down Wild Illusion near the post to win by a neck. She tried twice more to win this race, for a third and a sixth, but she was outstanding in 2018.

9. Perfect Sting (2000)

The Stronach Stables mare Perfect Sting was a high-class distaffer, winning 14 of her 21 starts. She finished sixth to Soaring Softly in the inaugural Filly & Mare Turf as a three-year-old but fully hit her peak at four, winning four and finishing second once on her way to the race. At Churchill Downs, Perfect Sting started back in the running, rounded the field around the final turn, and held out Tout Charmant for a comfortable victory. It was a fitting climax to a great season.

8. Intercontinental (2005)

Intercontinental had a very good year in 2005 for trainer Robert Frankel. She won four of her six starts but was allowed to start at 15-1, largely because of the presence of top British mare Ouija Board. Rafael Bejarano took Intercontinental straight to the front at Belmont Park, and try as she might, Ouija Board could not catch her. Neither could Film Maker nor Wonder Again in third and fourth. By the end, Intercontinental had a length and a quarter to spare. It was her crowning moment, though as we will see, Ouija Board would make her mark on other days.

7. Tuesday (2022)

Tuesday arrived at the Breeders’ Cup having not won in four starts since her triumph in the Oaks. For that reason, punters preferred English filly Nashwa and Chad Brown’s mare In Italian. Nashwa underperformed, but In Italian ran a great race, leading most of the way and putting up a performance that would have won this race on many a day. But Tuesday showed an outstanding turn of foot in the Keeneland stretch to overhaul In Italian and score well. It was a fitting note to go out on, and she didn’t race again.

6. Stephanie's Kitten (2015)

It took Stephanie’s Kitten four years from her Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf victory in 2011 to add this race to her resume. In between times she was one of the best turf mares in the United States, and she found only the front-running Dayatthespa too good in 2014. But 2015 was her year. Racing in a field that included the triple Group 1-winning Irish filly Legatissimo, she came from well back thanks to an outstanding Irad Ortiz ride and was clearly superior to Legatissimo. At age six, she became the oldest winner of the race, and fully deserved the retirement which came shortly after.

5. Inspiral (2023)

Big things were expected of Inspiral after an outstanding career that saw her beat the males twice in the Prix Jacques Le Marois (G1) and win three other Group 1 contests against fillies. But victory looked near impossible at the top of the Santa Anita stretch as she was stuck behind a wall of horses near the rear of the field. But once Frankie Dettori extricated her, she showed astonishing acceleration and was able to pick up Warm Heart on the line, with future winner Moira in third. Inspiral wouldn’t win again in four starts as a five-year-old, but her final victory was a memorable one.

4. Ouija Board (2004)

You could argue that no distaffer did more to build this race's reputation than Ouija Board. She arrived at Lone Star Park in 2004 having won the Epsom Oaks and Irish Oaks and finishing third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Those seemed outstanding credentials for this race, and she started as the odds-on favorite. Kieren Fallon found a handy position just off the speed, and though Film Maker and Wonder Again tried hard, there was only going to be one winner once Ouija Board got into the clear.

3. Loves Only You (2021)

Japanese horses had made their mark internationally by the year 2022, especially in Dubai and Hong Kong. But until this year, they hadn’t taken out one of the major North American races. That would change on Breeders’ Cup day. But while Marche Lorraine’s victory in the Distaff was a monumental upset, many expected Loves Only You to run well after her Dubai Sheema Classic third and her Queen Elizabeth Cup victory in Hong Kong. Victory didn’t look likely when she was stuck behind horses as War Like Princess rolled past her from the rear, but jockey Yuga Kawada stayed patient and found a tight split, sprinting hard to win. She added the Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin six weeks later.

2. Ouija Board (2006)

Lord Derby could have been excused for retiring Ouija Board at the end of her four-year-old season, when she followed her Filly & Mare Turf second with victory in the Hong Kong Vase. They were vindicated in style as she won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Nassau at Goodwood. When she arrived for a third go at the Filly & Mare Turf, she was made a 7-5 favorite. With Frankie Dettori aboard this time, Ouija Board found room at the top of the stretch and sprinted clear for a 2 1/4-length triumph over the luckless Film Maker, placing for a third time in this race. She rounded off her career with a third placing in the Japan Cup before heading to stud, where her progeny included the 2014 Epsom Derby winner Australia.

1. Banks Hill (2001)

French filly Banks Hill may not have had the same length of resume as Ouija Board. But at her peak she was just as good. She was well fancied when arriving at Belmont Park for this race in 2001 after winning the Coronation Stakes and finishing second in two Group 1 French mile races. But even her connections were probably stunned at what she did in this race. Olivier Peslier found a dream rails run around the final turn and she was in a race of her own at the end, finishing 5 1/2 lengths clear. Whether she deserves to be called the best winner of the race may be debated by some, but as far as performances on the day in this race goes, none can match her.