The Very One Stakes (Pimlico)

This article is about the thoroughbred horse race held at Pimlico Race Course. For the thoroughbred horse race with similar name at Gulfstream Park, see The Very One Stakes (Gulfstream Park).
The Very One Stakes
Ungraded race
LocationPimlico Race Course,
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Inaugurated1993
Race typeThoroughbred - Flat racing
Websitewww.pimlico.com
Race information
Distance5 furlongs
SurfaceTurf
TrackLeft-handed
QualificationThree-year-olds & up; fillies & mares
WeightAssigned
Purse$100,000

The Very One Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Open to fillies and mares three years old and up, it is contested over a distance of five furlongs on turf.[1]

The Very One Stakes is run on the third Friday of May each year on the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes under card. The race is run on the "Filly Friday" of Preakness Stakes weekend. The race was not run between 1994 and 2000. The first year the race was run in 1993, it was contested at 1+1⁄16 miles on the main track at "Old Hilltop" on a dirt surface; since that time it has been run at a distance of five furlongs and on the turf.

The Very One Stakes attracts female turf sprinters. It was named in honor of The Very One, one of the best race mares in training during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Purchased out of the 1977 two-year-old in training sale at Timonium for $22,000, she became a millionaire, racing in 71 times with a record of 22 wins, 12 second-place finishes and 18 third-place finishes and earnings of $1,030,120. Her most famous wins came in the grade one Santa Barbara Handicap in California and the grade two Dixie Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, over the best turf males in the country in 1979.[2]

The Very One Stakes is the lead off leg of the Mid Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Fillies and Mares Sprint Turf Division or MATCh Races. MATCh is a series of five races in five separate thoroughbred divisions run throughout four Mid-Atlantic States including; Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park Racecourse in Maryland; Delaware Park Racetrack in Delaware; Parx, Philadelphia Park and Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania and Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

Records

Speed record:

  • 5 furlongs - 55.60 - Unbridled Sidney (2007)

Most wins by a jockey:

Most wins by a trainer:

  • 3 - Kathleen DeMasi (2002, 2004, 2017)

Most wins by an owner:

Winners of The Very One Stakes since 1993

Year
 Winner
 Age
 Jockey
 Trainer
 Owner
 Dist.
 Time
 Purse
 Grd
2022 Can The Queen 6 Victor R. Carrasco Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon Joanne Shankle 5 fur. 59.09 $100,000
2021 Caravel 4 Florent Geroux Elizabeth M. Merryman Elizabeth M. Merryman 5 fur. 56.21 $100,000
2020 A Great Time 4 Julian Pimentel Michael J. Trombetta Larry Johnson 5 fur. 1:00.14 $100,000
2019 Wild About Star 5 Daniel Centeno Jose M. Camejo Brittlyn Stable, Inc. 5 fur. 56.93 $100,000
2018 Girl Knows Best 4 Javier Castellano Eddie Kenneally Brian Chenvert 5 fur. 55.66 $100,000
2017 Everything Lovely 4 Javier Castellano Kathleen DeMasi Pewter Stable 5 fur. 57.93 $100,000
2016 Lady Shipman 4 Joel Rosario Kiaran P. McLaughlin Ranlo Investments 5 fur. 57.85 $100,000
2015 Ageless 6 Julien Leparoux Arnaud Delacour Lael Stables 5 fur. 55.66 $100,000
2014 Ageless 5 Luis Garcia Arnaud Delacour Lael Stables 5 fur. 58.91 $100,000
2013 Sensible Lady 3 Angel Serpa Timothy Salzman Three Lyons Racing 5 fur. 56.57 $100,000
2012 Sensible Lady 3 Xavier Perez Timothy Salzman Three Lyons Racing 5 fur. 56.13 $100,000
2011 Suzzona 7 Julian Pimentel Benjamin Feliciano Sandy Valley Farms 5 fur. 1:00.41 $75,000
2010 Starfish Bay 4 John Velazquez Todd Pletcher Gainesway Stable 5 fur. 56.56 $70,000
2009 Criticism 5 Edgar Prado Thomas Albertrani Darley Stables 5 fur. 56.00 $75,000
2008 All Giving 4 Erick Rodriguez Flint Stites Catherine J. Smith 5 fur. 57.46 $75,000
2007 Unbridled Sidney 6 Calvin Borel Ronny Werner Norrine & Doug Devenport 5 fur. 55.60 $75,000
2006 Gilded Gold 5 Javier Castellano Alan E. Goldberg Bobby Flay & Rob. Masterson 5 fur. 57.20 $75,000
2005 Gabianna 5 Horacio Karamanos Jorge Prado Andre and Lenard Vaughn 5 fur. 59.60 $75,000
2004 Go Go Baby Go 5 Ryan Fogelsonger Kathleen DeMasi Joseph Boff & C. Burke 5 fur. 56.00 $75,000
2003 Forest Heiress 4 Pat Day William I. Mott Darley Stables 5 fur. 57.60 $75,000
2002 Merry Princess 6 Ramon Dominguez Kathleen DeMasi Pewter Stable 5 fur. 56.60 $50,000
2001 Confessional 5 Ramon Dominguez H. Graham Motion Pin Oak Stable 5 fur. 56.40 $75,000
1943 - 1944 Race not held
1993 Logan's Mist 5 Edgar Prado Francis Campitelli Fran & Jessie Campitelli 1-1/16 1:42.80 $29,000

See also

References

  1. ^ 2007 Maryland Jockey Club Media Guide, page 173 on March 3, 2007.
  2. ^ 2007 Maryland Jockey Club Media Guide, page 173 on March 3, 2007.