Susan's Girl (FL)

A three-time Eclipse Award winner, Susan’s Girl was one of the top female racehorses of the 1970s and the first filly or mare to surpass $1 million in earnings in North America. She won 24 stakes races in her career, including 12 graded events. Several more of her stakes victories came during her 3-year-old campaign of 1972, which was prior to the grading of races.

Inducted

1976

Foaled

1969

Sire

Quadrangle

Dam

Quaze

Damsire

Quibu

Breeder

Fred Hooper, Jr.

Owner

Fred Hooper

Trainer

L. R. Fenstermaker
R. L. Smith
J. L. Newman
T. W. Kelly
C. R. Parke
J. W. Russell
J. E. Picou

Career

1971-1975

Earnings

$1,251,668

Racing Record

63

Starts

Year	Starts	First	Second	Third	Earnings
Year	Sts	1	2	3	$
1971	13	5	5	0	$150484 $150,484
1972	13	9	2	2	$352678 $352,678
1973	14	6	2	3	$340496 $340,496
1974	6	2	1	2	$46059 $46,059
1975	17	7	4	4	$361951 $361,951

Biography

A three-time Eclipse Award winner, Susan’s Girl was one of the top female racehorses of the 1970s and the first filly or mare to surpass $1 million in earnings in North America. She won 24 stakes races in her career, including 12 graded events. Several more of her stakes victories came during her 3-year-old campaign of 1972, which was prior to the grading of races.

Bred in Florida by Fred Hooper, Jr. and owned by his father, Fred Hooper, Susan’s Girl established herself as a star during a 3-year-old campaign in which she strung together six consecutive victories, including the Pasadena, Santa Susana, Santa Ynez, La Troienne, Kentucky Oaks, and Acorn. Later in the year, she added wins in the Cotillion, Gazelle, and Beldame (setting a stakes record) to secure the Eclipse Award for Champion 3-Year-Old Filly with a seasonal record of 9-2-2 from 13 starts and earnings of $352,678.

As a 4-year-old in 1973, Susan’s Girl won the Santa Maria Handicap, Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (carrying 127 pounds), Santa Barbara Handicap (carrying 129 pounds), Susquehanna Handicap, Delaware Handicap (carrying 127 pounds), and Spinster Stakes to be named Champion Older Female.

A leg injury cut short Susan’s Girl’s 1974 season, but she returned to top form as a 6-year-old in 1975, winning the Apple Blossom Handicap, Long Beach Handicap, Matchmaker Stakes, Delaware Handicap, Beldame Stakes, and Spinster Stakes to win her third Eclipse Award. She was retired at the end of the year with a career mark of 29-14-11 from 63 starts and earnings of $1,251,668.

“In over 40 years of breeding and racing, we’ve bred a good number of stakes winners,” said owner Hooper. “But I’ve never admired or been more fond of a horse. She’s one of the greats.”

Susan’s Girl died on Oct. 18, 1988, at the age of 19.