n July 1998, the Breeders’ Cup board of directors voted to fill an obvious gap in its championship lineup by creating the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) at 1 1/4 miles. Until the first Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park in 1999, the female turf division had no definitive championship race, and distaffers were forced to race in open company.

The new race for fillies and mares, first run at 1 3/8 miles because of Gulfstream’s grass course configuration, fulfilled its intended function. Phillips Racing Partnership’s Soaring Softly locked up an Eclipse Award as champion turf female with a three-quarter-length victory in 1999. The following year, Stronach Stable’s Perfect Sting won by the same margin over Tout Charmant at Churchill Downs. Perfect Sting was subsequently voted champion turf female. European interests broke through in 2001 when Juddmonte Farms’ French-based Banks Hill (GB) won by 5 1/2 lengths at Belmont Park. For the first time in 2001, the Filly and Mare Turf was run at 1 1/4 miles, its prescribed distance when course configurations permit.

Beginning with Banks Hill, horses bred overseas dominated the Filly and Mare Turf. Horses bred outside North America took the first three finish positions in 2001, the top six spots the following year, the top five positions in ‘03, and the winning spot in ‘04, when few European-trained horses made the trip to Lone Star Park.

Banks Hill, a Danehill filly trained by Andre Fabre for her 2001 triumph, returned in ‘02 to seek a second victory, this time in the care of Bobby Frankel. She could manage no better than second, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Starine (Fr), who was owned and trained by Frankel. Islington (Ire) finished third in the 2002 Filly and Mare Turf, and she returned the following year to score a neck victory over L’Ancresse (Ire) in the Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita Park. In an unusual pattern to that race, all North American-bred horses finished behind the five top finishers. Irish-breds took the top three spots, followed by two fillies bred in Great Britain.

Britain’s honor would be upheld in 2004 when Lord Derby’s homebred Ouija Board (GB) invaded and scored a 1 1/2-length victory over Film Maker. Europe’s Horse of the Year after her victories in the Epsom Oaks (Eng-G1) and Darley Irish Oaks (Ire-G1), the Cape Cross (Ire) filly also was voted an Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding turf female. She returned in 2005 and finished second to eventual champion Intercontinental (GB), Banks Hill’s sister.