Kopion Carrying Hughes Banner Into Los Al Battle

This fan will go out of his way to watch a fast filly strut her stuff. Undefeated Hallowed Dreams going for her 15th straight in the 2000 Fantasia Stakes at Louisiana Downs? Shreveport, here I come. Champion Xtra Heat packing 127 pounds in the 2002 Princess Rooney Handicap (G2) at Calder Race Course? I'm Miami bound. My Juliet, Safely Kept, Track Gal, Pine Tree Lane, Honest Lady, Groupie Doll—they are members of a select tribe, prime examples of modern-day philosopher Rustin Cohle's reminder that, "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing... that's why you care for what you get good at." The great female sprinters enjoy their own corner of racing history. Pan Zareta's record of 73 wins in 143 sprints is hard to believe, but there it is in black and white. Durazna came along in the mid-1940s to outsprint the boys with regularity. Affectionately, the pride of Hirsch and Ethel Jacobs, won the 1965 Vagrancy Handicap under 137 pounds, the Liberty Belle Handicap under 132, and beat males in the 1965 Toboggan, 1965 Sport Page, and 1964 Vosburgh handicaps. Ta Wee did not need to do more than win the 1970 Correction Handicap under 131 pounds, the 1970 Hempstead Handicap under 132, and the 1970 Regret Handicap under 136 to emerge from the shadow of her big brother, Dr. Fager. On July 5 out West, in the heart of the holiday weekend, two of the best of the division will tangle for the winner's share of $200,000 in the Great Lady M. Stakes (G2) at Los Alamitos Race Course. Kopion comes to the 6 1/2-furlong event off three straight stakes wins topped by the Derby City Distaff Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs, while Sweet Azteca, last year's winner of the Great Lady M., makes her first start of the season for her new trainer, Richard Baltas. The Great Lady M. took the place of Hollywood Park's A Gleam Handicap, named for the Calumet Farm filly who was considerably more than a sprinter, although she did beat her elders in the 1953 Milady Handicap and colts in the 1953 Malibu Sequet Stakes, both at seven furlongs. As for Great Lady M., she was one of those clock-punching Wayne Lukas mares who rarely missed a meal or a race. After 19 starts for other connections in the East, she joined Wayne's world in the summer of 1978 and over the next 2 1/2 years started 39 times. Among her 10 wins for Lukas was the Orange Coast Handicap at Los Alamitos against males, run during the tiny Orange County Fall Fair meet in November of 1979. Later, she gave birth to Lady's Secret. Compared to Great Lady M., Kopion and Sweet Azteca have barely reached first base, sporting identical records of five wins from seven starts. Sweet Azteca represents her breeder, Pam Ziebarth, while Kopion carries the colors of Spendthrift Farm and the legacy of owner B. Wayne Hughes. Hughes died in August of 2021 when Kopion was a five-month foal by her mother's side living just up Paris Pike from Spendthrift at Briarbrooke Farm, where breeder Ivan Dalos boards his Kentucky mares. A year later, the daughter of Omaha Beach sold for $270,000 to Spendthrift, whose ownership had been assumed by Hughes' daughter, Tamara, and her husband, Eric Gustavson. "One of the things we started focusing on in the aftermath of Wayne's passing was only really buying fillies with enough pedigree that they can be a broodmare for us, if they don't produce on the racetrack," Eric Gustavson said. "On top of that, we like to support our own stallions." Kopion scored on both counts. She is a daughter of Galloping Ami, Canada's 2016 Broodmare of the Year, and Omaha Beach, a son of War Front who is among 29 stallions standing at Spendthrift, led by Into Mischief. Like Omaha Beach, Kopion is trained by Richard Mandella. She made her debut as a 2-year-old on Thanksgiving weekend of 2023 and was hardly a secret, winning easily at 3-10 under Flavien Prat. "She was in the same crop as Tamara, and Richard wasn't as effusive about her. By the time Kopion started, Tamara was already a grade 1 winner," Gustavson said, referring to the winner of the 2023 Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1). "But then Richard would tell us that Kopion was really coming around." Kopion came around fast enough to win a four-horse Santa Ynez Stakes (G3) in early 2024, then ran well without winning in two more races around two turns. She went to the sidelines after that with bone bruising and resurfaced on Santa Anita's opening day, last Dec. 26, to win the La Brea Stakes (G1) at odds of 37-1, a "man bites dog" headline for a Mandella stakes winner. Success in the Santa Monica Stakes (G2) and Derby City Distaff followed in machinelike procession, while an array of classy Bob Baffert fillies trailed in her wake. Baffert is passing the Great Lady M., leaving One Magic Philly from the Phil D'Amato stable as the prime challenger for Kopion and Sweet Azteca, a daughter of Sharp Azteca. Kopion's handle is not quite so obvious. "A friend of mine told me I should name a horse 'kopion,' which is the Greek word for leaving it all on the field of battle," Gustavson said. "I put it on the list of names I keep, and when it came time I thought it was appropriate to use for a granddaughter of War Front." In another life, Gustavson worked about as far from running a Thoroughbred operation as possible. A keen eye would have spotted him playing guest shot roles in such popular TV series as "Will and Grace," "Northern Exposure," and "Baywatch." "I was a theater major chasing an acting career," Gustavson said. "After starting a family, I stopped acting and went over to the production side. As Wayne's son-in-law, I certainly enjoyed the races, and going out to Clocker's Corner at Santa Anita in the mornings. Then, when he bought Spendthrift in 2004, he asked me to come work with him. "When I started at the farm, I had no idea what I was doing," he continued. "Wayne said, 'Why don't you do our marketing?' I was winging it, while we were acquiring a lot of stallions. I learned so much, though, mostly from being in his presence, but also from people like Ned Toffey, our general manager, and from the sales guys, like Seth Semkin." Gustavson is now a member of The Jockey Club, on the Keeneland board of advisors, and on the Breeders' Cup board of directors. "It's said you need 10,000 hours at something to become an expert," Gustavson said. "In my case it's been 20 years to get to this point. To have a filly like Kopion carrying on the quality established by a great teacher like Wayne is very gratifying."