Zipse: Splendora is splendid in 5th straight win
It’s not easy duplicating a performance that wins a Breeders’ Cup race by open lengths. Splendora did just that on Saturday at Santa Anita as she streaked to her fifth straight victory.
With a dominant performance in the Grade 1, $300,000 Beholder Mile, Splendora fired a warning shot to any filly and mare in the nation that she is going to be a handful at both one turn and two.
Having finished second in the Eclipse Award voting for female sprinter and third in the voting for older dirt female, the 5-year-old daughter of Audible looks to still have her best racing in front of her.
It was certainly no surprise that Splendora won on Saturday, but the way she won was noteworthy. Sent off at prohibitive 1-10 odds despite the presence of graded-stakes-quality fillies, she dominated from gate to wire.
Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Juan Hernandez, Splendora broke from the gate as smooth as silk and went right to the lead. After the first few strides, there was little doubt as to who was the big girl of this field.
Cruising along in front through opening fractions of 23.49 and 46.77, Splendora received token pressure from last year’s Kentucky Oaks third-place finisher Bless the Broken.
The shipper from out east ran valiantly, but the impressive winner of last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint was always in control. Splendora effortlessly strode away from her rival turning for home after three-quarters in 1:10.31 and drew off in the stretch for her second Grade 1 win in her last three starts.
Bless the Broken was much the best of the rest in her first start in California and finished seven lengths in front of the late-running graded-stakes winner Om N Joy.
The final margin was 5 3/4 lengths, but it appeared there was still plenty of untapped horsepower for Splendora as she romped home to the finish line.
"She’s getting better every race. Bob just told me, ‘Don’t look back and just have fun.’ That is what we did," Hernandez said.
Splendora’s five-race winning streak began in July with an easy win in a six-furlong allowance race at Del Mar. The Maryland-bred mare followed that with romping wins in the one-mile Tranquility Lake Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, both at Del Mar, to close out her 4-year-old campaign.
Most recently, she was clearly best while winning the seven-furlong D. Wayne Lukas Stakes (G2) four weeks ago at Santa Anita to kick off her 2026 season.
Showing off her versatility, Splendora has gone gate to wire in both two-turn wins during the streak and came from just a bit off the pace in each of her three sprinting victories.
Owned by Boyd Racing and By Talla Racing, Splendora has finished worse than second only once. She now has won seven of her 12 career starts, with four second-place finishes.
Bred by the Elkstone Group, the $125,000 yearling purchase also became racing’s newest millionaire on Saturday, as she raised her career earnings up to $1,160,800.
Formerly known as the Vanity, and since renamed in honor of one of the greatest female runners of the 21st century, Splendora showed that she belongs among an impressive roll call of winners.
With the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland the ultimate goal, a return engagement in the Filly & Mare Sprint would seem most likely, but I wouldn’t rule out a run in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at 1 1/8-miles this time around.
Splendora is becoming the type of mare who can run right by the leaders in a sprint and run them all of their feet going longer. She is an impressive mare.