Pan Zareta (USA)
1910 – January 19, 1918
Abe Frank (USA) x Caddie Griffith (USA), by Rancocas (USA)
Appendix Family 1
1910 – January 19, 1918
Abe Frank (USA) x Caddie Griffith (USA), by Rancocas (USA)
Appendix Family 1
Born in obscurity in West Texas from parents of clouded ancestry, Pan Zareta spent most of her career during the hardscrabble days of Western racing, chasing small purses from Mexico to Canada. She rose from the mists to be acknowledged as the best sprinter in the United States, and her durability, consistency, heart, and raw speed eventually won her admission to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame as the winningest female Thoroughbred in American history. Sadly, she left no other legacy than memories as she died of pneumonia while still in training.
Race record
151 starts, 76 wins, 31 seconds, 21 thirds, US$39,082
1912:
1913:
1914:
1915:
1916:
1917:
Honors
As an individual
A well-balanced chestnut mare with clean legs and powerful hindquarters, Pan Zareta was businesslike and sensible as a racehorse and was a good shipper. Her head was plain and she had long ears, but she was blessed with a deep girth and a strong coupling through the loins, though her shoulder was perhaps a little more upright than is considered ideal. Her action was light.
Connections
Foaled in Sweetwater, Texas, Pan Zareta was bred and owned by James Newman. After Newman’s death in 1914, his son Harold Newman (who had intermittently trained the mare, alternating with E. Foucon, and who had co-owned Pan Zareta with his father beginning in November 1913) assumed full ownership from his father’s estate in June 1915. In the spring of 1917, the mare was sold to owner-trainer E. T. Colton for US$10,000. She was sold again to Joseph Marrone, this in August 1917, and was afterward trained by J. C. Kirkpatrick. She was in Marrone’s ownership when she died of pneumonia at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans on January 19, 1918. She was buried in the Fair Grounds infield.
Pedigree notes
Sired by 1902 Tennessee Derby winner Abe Frank (by Hanover), Pan Zareta is inbred 4x4 to two-time American champion sire Bonnie Scotland and 5x5 to 16-time American champion sire Lexington. She is a full sister to Calisse, winner of the 1911 Debutante Stakes and Clipsetta Stakes and the setter of a world record of :39-2/5 for 3½ furlongs at Terrazas Park near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Pan Zareta and Calisse were produced from James Newman’s homebred mare Caddie Griffith, whose sire Rancocas was a son of 1881 Derby Stakes and St. Leger Stakes hero Iroquois. Caddie Griffith, in turn, was produced from Newman’s homebred mare Boston Girl (by Boston Boy, a paternal grandson of Lexington) out of Sallie Johnson, whose sire Blue Dick was a male-line descendant of the important Thoroughbred sire Margrave but was not of pure Thoroughbred lines. Because she had some importance in the production of racehorses but was of impure ancestry, Sallie Johnson was registered in the Appendix section of the American Stud Book, Vol. 7.
Sallie Johnson’s dam Mittie Stephens was also registered in the Appendix section of the ASB Vol. 7. She was sired by Shiloh Jr. from a mare named Nellie Gray, said to have Thoroughbred ancestry through her sire, Dan Secres, and her maternal grandsire, Chieftain, and is linked to early Quarter Horse lines. Female-line descendants of Mittie Stephens were eligible for registration as Thoroughbreds for racing purposes only, provided that they had at least three crosses of pure Thoroughbred blood; Pan Zareta met this requirement via Abe Frank, Rancocas, and Boston Boy.
Books and media
Pan Zareta’s story is the subject of an ongoing independent film project. Information on the project can be found at https://www.panzaretamovie.com/.
Fun facts
Last updated: August 10, 2022
Race record
151 starts, 76 wins, 31 seconds, 21 thirds, US$39,082
1912:
- Won Senoritas Stakes (MEX, 3.5FD, Terrazas Park)
- 3rd Wonderland Handicap (USA, 5FD, Helena)
1913:
- Won Rio Grande Stakes (MEX, 6FD, Terrazas Park)
- Won Chihuahua Stakes (MEX, 6FD, Terrazas Park)
- Won Chapultepec Handicap (MEX, 6FD, Terrazas Park)
- Won Juarez Handicap (MEX, 6FD, Terrazas Park)
- 2nd St. Clair Handicap (CAN, 6FD, Windsor)
- Set new North American record of 1:04-3/5 for 5.5FD at Terrazas Park
- Equaled the North American record of 1:04-3/5 for 5.5FD at Terrazas Park
1914:
- 2nd Rapids Handicap (CAN, 6FD, Douglas Park)
- 3rd Dos Republicas Handicap (MEX, 7FD, Terrazas Park)
- Equaled the track record of 1:12 for 6FD at Windsor
1915:
- 2nd Dos Republicas Handicap (MEX, 7FD, Terrazas Park)
- 3rd Falls City Handicap (USA,6FD, Churchill Downs)
- Set new world record of :57-1/5 for 5FD at Terrazas Park
- Set new Canadian record of 1:11-2/5 for 6FD at Windsor
1916:
- 3rd Merchants Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Fair Grounds)
- 3rd New Orleans Hotel Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Fair Grounds)
- Set new track record of 1:38 for 8FD at Oaklawn Park
1917:
- Won Katonah Handicap (USA, 6FD, Empire City)
- 3rd Falls City Handicap (USA, 6FD, Churchill Downs)
- Set new track record of 1:05-3/5 for 5.5FD at Jamaica
Honors
- National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1972)
- Fair Grounds Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in the inaugural class in 1971)
- Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame
- American champion handicap female (1914)
As an individual
A well-balanced chestnut mare with clean legs and powerful hindquarters, Pan Zareta was businesslike and sensible as a racehorse and was a good shipper. Her head was plain and she had long ears, but she was blessed with a deep girth and a strong coupling through the loins, though her shoulder was perhaps a little more upright than is considered ideal. Her action was light.
Connections
Foaled in Sweetwater, Texas, Pan Zareta was bred and owned by James Newman. After Newman’s death in 1914, his son Harold Newman (who had intermittently trained the mare, alternating with E. Foucon, and who had co-owned Pan Zareta with his father beginning in November 1913) assumed full ownership from his father’s estate in June 1915. In the spring of 1917, the mare was sold to owner-trainer E. T. Colton for US$10,000. She was sold again to Joseph Marrone, this in August 1917, and was afterward trained by J. C. Kirkpatrick. She was in Marrone’s ownership when she died of pneumonia at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans on January 19, 1918. She was buried in the Fair Grounds infield.
Pedigree notes
Sired by 1902 Tennessee Derby winner Abe Frank (by Hanover), Pan Zareta is inbred 4x4 to two-time American champion sire Bonnie Scotland and 5x5 to 16-time American champion sire Lexington. She is a full sister to Calisse, winner of the 1911 Debutante Stakes and Clipsetta Stakes and the setter of a world record of :39-2/5 for 3½ furlongs at Terrazas Park near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Pan Zareta and Calisse were produced from James Newman’s homebred mare Caddie Griffith, whose sire Rancocas was a son of 1881 Derby Stakes and St. Leger Stakes hero Iroquois. Caddie Griffith, in turn, was produced from Newman’s homebred mare Boston Girl (by Boston Boy, a paternal grandson of Lexington) out of Sallie Johnson, whose sire Blue Dick was a male-line descendant of the important Thoroughbred sire Margrave but was not of pure Thoroughbred lines. Because she had some importance in the production of racehorses but was of impure ancestry, Sallie Johnson was registered in the Appendix section of the American Stud Book, Vol. 7.
Sallie Johnson’s dam Mittie Stephens was also registered in the Appendix section of the ASB Vol. 7. She was sired by Shiloh Jr. from a mare named Nellie Gray, said to have Thoroughbred ancestry through her sire, Dan Secres, and her maternal grandsire, Chieftain, and is linked to early Quarter Horse lines. Female-line descendants of Mittie Stephens were eligible for registration as Thoroughbreds for racing purposes only, provided that they had at least three crosses of pure Thoroughbred blood; Pan Zareta met this requirement via Abe Frank, Rancocas, and Boston Boy.
Books and media
Pan Zareta’s story is the subject of an ongoing independent film project. Information on the project can be found at https://www.panzaretamovie.com/.
Fun facts
- Pan Zareta’s sire Abe Frank was rumored to have been bred by “artificial impregnation,” which would have barred him from registration in the American Stud Book had the rumor been confirmed. Although the American Quarter Horse Association and other breed registries permit artificial insemination and other assisted breeding techniques, all Thoroughbred foals submitted for registration in any of the world’s major Thoroughbred stud books must be conceived through a natural cover of a mare by a stallion.
- Pan Zareta was named for the daughter of a former mayor of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. She was known as “Panzy” and “The Texas Whirlwind” to her fans.
- Pan Zareta ran four times in selling races as a 2-year-old. After that, she was not risked for a selling tag again.
- According to the Louisville Courier-Journal of January 26, 1913, James Newman intended to nominate Pan Zareta to the Kentucky Oaks and had plans to ship her to Churchill Downs following the conclusion of the 1912-1913 Juarez meeting. Pan Zareta did travel to Churchill Downs but did not compete in the Oaks, apparently due to problems in shipping which threw her out of condition; her only starts at that meeting were unplaced runs in two 6-furlong handicaps.
- Pan Zareta raced in open company (aside from age restrictions) in 143 of her 151 starts; only eight of her starts were in races restricted to fillies and mares. She won under as much as 146 pounds.
- Pan Zareta’s world record for 5 furlongs was set in a match race against the very fast 4-year-old colt Joe Blair, who later set a world record for 3 furlongs and was used as a sire of Quarter Horses as well as Thoroughbreds; his son Joe Reed is considered a foundation sire of the modern American Quarter Horse. Pan Zareta conceded Joe Blair 10 pounds and beat him by two lengths under the handling of future Hall of Fame jockey John Loftus, later the regular jockey for Sir Barton and Man o’ War in 1919.
- Pan Zareta’s 1915 world record for 5 furlongs stood as the North American record for the distance until Encantadora clipped a fifth of a second off it at Centennial Park in 1956.
- In defeating the good sprinter Leochares in the 1917 Katonah Handicap, Pan Zareta carried 137 pounds, a record for a victory by a filly or mare in New York stakes competition. It would take until 1965 for this record to be equaled by Affectionately when she won the 1965 Vagrancy Handicap, a race limited to fillies and mares, and the record would not be broken until Ta Wee won the 1970 Fall Highweight Handicap under 140 pounds against open company.
- Pan Zareta was the first horse accorded the honor of burial in the Fair Grounds infield. She was later joined by Black Gold, the popular 1924 Kentucky Derby winner, who had a family connection to her: His dam, Useeit, had raced against Pan Zareta six times, outfinishing her only once.
- Had Pan Zareta lived and become a broodmare, her foals would not have been eligible for registration in the American Stud Book as the provision for Appendix registration no longer existed.
- Pan Zareta is the namesake for a stakes race at the Fair Grounds, which has run annually since 1966. The great mare is also the namesake for a race in the Texas Stallion Stakes series.
Last updated: August 10, 2022