Ever since the very first Breeders’ Cup Distaff won by Princess Rooney 42 years ago at Hollywood Park, the prestigious race for fillies and mares has continued to produce high-quality winners. Racing’s Hall of Fame has opened its doors to a dozen winners of the race, several of whom found the winner’s circle more than once at the World Championships.

Attempting to identify the greatest of the Distaff winners, or a top five in this case, is a near impossible task and certain to create strong counter opinions. At the very least, these rankings should generate some fun discussion.

Counting down from five, here is my ranking of the best of the greats who have won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. My criteria for ranking them is based on which horses I believed to be the overall best during their racing careers, with their performance in the race only considered when breaking ties. Considering the amount of excellence in the roll call of Distaff winners, there are no right or wrong answers as to who was best. This is simply my opinion, having followed the sport closely for the last half-century.

Beholder, center, edges Songbird in 2016 Distaff (Eclipse Sportswire)

5. Beholder: She edges out several great champions for the fifth spot on this list due to her entire body of work. Few modern racehorses were able to sustain their place at the top like the Richard Mandella-trained daughter of Henny Hughes. She was a champion in four different seasons and won all three Breeders’ Cup races she entered over a five-season stretch. In 26 career races, she won 18 times and finished second in six more. Besides winning the Breeders’ Cup Distaff twice and the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Beholder also trounced the boys in the 2015 Pacific Classic Stakes and finished second in that Grade 1 race the following year to the future Hall of Famer California Chrome. She closed out her remarkable career at the age of 6 with one of her most memorable performances when she nipped the excellent younger filly Songbird by a nose in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

4. Inside Information: At her best, it would be hard to argue that this Ogden Mills Phipps homebred wasn’t one of the greatest female runners of the Breeders’ Cup era. Her winning performance in the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, when she romped home by 13 ½ lengths at Belmont Park in a final time of 1:46.15 for the 1 1/8 miles, was a fitting way to close out her sensational racing career. That performance in her final career race also stands as the record for both margin of victory and running time. Never worse than third in her career, the champion daughter of Private Account was only beaten once in each of her three seasons on the track. Her average winning margin in her six Grade 1 victories was better than seven lengths. All told, Inside Information won 14 of 17 career starts, and she more than that she raised the bar when it mattered the most.

3. Lady’s Secret: Sired by the great Secretariat, the gray racemare was small in size but large in stature. They didn’t call her the “Iron Lady” for nothing. In a two-year stretch in 1985 and 1986, she ran 32 times and won 20 races. As a 3-year-old, she won eight consecutive stakes races before finishing second behind her champion stablemate Life’s Magic in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Aqueduct. Named Horse of the Year the following season, Lady’s Secret finished off her 4-year-old campaign by winning four consecutive Grade 1 races in commanding, front-running fashion, including the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita Park. Overall, the D. Wayne Lukas trainee won 25 of her 45 career races and was an 11-time Grade 1 winner. She ran against males in five important races, including an easy victory in the 1986 Whitney Handicap. Her speed, durability, and courage earn her a rightful place high on this list.

Personal Ensign, outside, caught Winning Colors in 1988 Distaff (BloodHorse Library/Dan Johnson)

2. Personal Ensign: Perfection in horse racing is almost never realized. The second Phipps homebred daughter of Private Account on this list, she was the exception to the rule. A Grade 1 winner in each of her three seasons on the racetrack, she retired undefeated after 13 career starts from 1986 through 1988. After winning the Grade 1 Frizette in only her second career start, she was sidelined for nearly a year due to a serious injury. Upon her return, she won four times in dominant fashion to close out her second season. Even better at 4, she defeated males in the 1988 Whitney Handicap among her seven graded stakes wins that season. Along with her unblemished career record, Personal Ensign will be best remembered for her courageous victory in her final career race. Struggling on a muddy Churchill Downs racing surface for much of the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, she looked hopelessly beaten by Kentucky Derby-winning speedster Winning Colors, before a flying finish propelled Personal Ensign to victory by a nose. Perfection obtained.

1. Zenyatta: The only female ever to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the strapping daughter of Street Cry captured the imagination of the racing public over a spectacular racing career which spanned four seasons. Late to the races, she only made two starts as a 3-year-old for trainer John Shirreffs but made an instant impression. At 4, she won all seven of her starts culminating with a strong win in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (Distaff). Her legend grew as she continued to rally from way back without fail. Running most of her races on the old all-weather surfaces of California, she rattled off five more wins in as many starts at the age of 5. “The Queen” ended that season with a dramatic victory in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic over a full field of males at Santa Anita. Zenyatta won four more Grade 1 stakes at 6 to stretch her career record to a perfect 19-for-19 before one final test was asked of her. Despite a huge rally down the Churchill Downs stretch, Zenyatta came up just short behind that year’s champion older male Blame in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Her swan song was her only career defeat but may have been her best race of all.