TITANS OF TURF : Episode 8 – Dahlia
The first filly to win $1 million from worldwide earnings — although she earned much of it in England — was Dahlia. Like Susan’s Girl, she won at a time when the largest distaff purse in this country was a modest $100,000, although major stakes in England and France were much larger. Foaled in Kentucky in 1970 and owned by her breeder Nelson Bunker Hunt, she won major stakes in England, France, Ireland, Canada and the United States.
She was by Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner and Europe’s Horse of the Year, Vaguely Noble, which was syndicated to stand at stud in Kentucky for a record $5 million in 1968. Her dam was Charming Alibi by Honeys Alibi, a moderate stakes winner that had nevertheless shown that she was tough, having started on 71 occasions. Although Dahlia’s extraordinary stamina came from her sire, her conformation and durability undoubtedly favored her dam, since, unlike her sire, she was a chestnut of only medium size, standing less than 16 hands. Trained by Maurice Zilber for the first four years of racing, she spent her final year in the United States trained by Charlie Whittingham.
Dahlia’s juvenile year showed little promise of her potential. Stabled at Chantilly, France, she started four times, winning only the Prix Yacowlef in her first start. But the following year, she was spectacular. Having ample opportunity at her preferred distances at a mile and a quarter and beyond, and with immensely rich purses, she won six races. After finishing second to the brilliant Allez France in the Prix de Diane (French Oaks), she won the Irish Oaks and, later in the summer, she won the valuable King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in England against older males. Rheingold, which finished second in the King George, had finished second in the Epsom Derby to Roberto, and later won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe — beating Allez France — and the Grand Prix Prix de Saint-Cloud twice. There were also three Derby winners that finished behind Dahlia in that King George: Roberto, the English Derby winner; Hard To Beat, winner of the French Derby; and Weaver’s Hall, which had won the Irish Derby.
Dahlia took on older males once more when she shipped to Laurel in the fall for the Washington D.C. International, winning the race and adding another $80,000 to the half-million earned in Europe. With only six wins she had won half as much as Susan’s Girl had won with 29 victories, which illustrated the extraordinary discrepancy in prize money at that time between the United States and Europe. The rate of exchange between the dollar and both the British pound and French franc, at that time, greatly favored earnings abroad, a point not lost on her knowledgeable owner.
Returning to France, Dahlia bankrolled even more prize money as a 4-year-old, while winning only five races, but they were the right five. She won the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in Paris, then took England’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot for the second time, and then won the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup, beating another English Derby winner, Snow Knight, which later became champion turf horse of 1975 in the United States. Dahlia then crossed the Atlantic again to win the Man o’ War at Belmont, then the Canadian International at Woodbine and, finally, to finish third in the Washington D.C. International at Laurel. Her earnings topped those of her 3-year-old year, and her awards included the United States’ Grass Horse of the Year and England’s Horse of the Year.
She was to win only one race the following year, 1975, but again, it was the right one: England’s Benson and Hedges Gold Cup for the second time. She tried to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes for the third time, but finished third in a magnificent effort to that year’s English Derby winner, Grundy, and Bustino, which had won the St. Leger and the Coronation Cup. Shipping west for the final time, she was unplaced in both the Canadian and Washington D.C. Internationals.
At this point, Dahlia trailed the world’s distaff money winner, Allez France, by only about $20,000, and having never beaten the great French filly in eight starts on the racecourse, Hunt was looking for some measure of revenge. It was decided that Dahlia was to race a final year entirely in the United States under the tutelage of Charlie Whittingham. She was, by this time, showing her independent character and a reluctance to train, although she continued to run as courageously as ever.
After a period of adjustment to training on the American dirt tracks that she plainly disliked, she finally won an allowance race in mid-summer. She followed this with a game victory in the $200,000 Hollywood Invitational, beating stable-mate, Caucuses. She then shipped east to run once more in the Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont, a race that I was to win with a top class 3-year-old, Effervescing. Although this final season was not her finest hour, Dahlia broke the earnings record held by Allez France and became the world’s first distaff millionaire. She retired to stud and produced four Group-Grade I winners: Dahar, Rivlia, Delegant and Dahlia’s Dream. She was inducted into The Hall of Fame in 1981 and died in 2001 at the age of 31.
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