Spain (USA)
May 12, 1997 – c. 2020
Thunder Gulch (USA) x Drina (USA), by Regal and Royal (USA)
Family 9-f
May 12, 1997 – c. 2020
Thunder Gulch (USA) x Drina (USA), by Regal and Royal (USA)
Family 9-f
The second-longest shot in a deep field in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (USA-G1), Spain pulled off a shocking upset at odds of just under 56-1 at the expense of her stablemate, eventual champion 3-year-old filly Surfside. After adding a win in the 2000 La Brea Stakes (USA-G1) to her record, Spain never touched quite the same heights again but was a graded stakes winner at 4 and 5. She has had some success as a broodmare but has not produced anything with her own ability.
Race record
35 starts, 9 wins, 9 seconds, 7 thirds, US$3,540,542
1999:
2000:
2001:
2002:
Assessments
Rated at 118 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juvenile fillies of 1999, 5 pounds below co-highweights Chilukki (the official divisional champion), Cash Run, and Surfside.
Rated at 122 pounds on the 2000 International Classification, 4 pounds below top 3-year-old filly Egyptband but tied with Petruska and Jostle for second among 3-year-old fillies and with Jostle for tops among American 3-year-old fillies, 2 pounds above American champion 3-year-old filly Surfside.
In 2001, rated at 123 pounds by Timeform, 13 pounds below the overall highweight, Sakhee (a multiple highweight in England and France), and 1 pound below the top filly or mare, Sunline (the Horse of the Year in Australia and New Zealand).
As an individual
A bay mare; no further information available.
As a producer
Spain produced 10 named foals; all started and four won. Her important foals are as follow:
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Spain was bred and owned by The Thoroughbred Corp., the breeding and racing operation of Prince Ahmed bin Salman. She was trained by D. Wayne Lukas. Following the death of her owner in 2002, Spain was offered at the 2003 Keeneland November mixed sale, in foal to Storm Cat, and sold to Gerry Dilger's Dromoland Farm for $5.3 million. After passing to the ownership of the Coolmore conglomerate, she is last recorded as having produced an unnamed colt by American Pharoah in 2017; she is believed to have died a few years later.
Pedigree notes
Spain is inbred 4x5 to the breed-shaping sire Northern Dancer (the 1964 Canadian Horse of the Year and American champion 3-year-old male) and 5x4 to two-time American Horse of the Year Native Dancer (the maternal grandsire of Northern Dancer). She is a full sister to restricted stakes winner Path of Thunder, dam of 2011 Virginia Oaks (USA-G3) winner Excited (by Giant’s Causeway; dam of stakes winner Thrilled, by Uncle Mo) and stakes winner Wait Til Dawn (by Giant’s Causeway). Spain is a half sister to multiple Grade 2 winner Puerto Banus (by Supremo) and 2007 Golden Gate Breeders’ Cup Stakes (USA-G3) winner Fantastic Spain (by Fantastic Fellow).
Spain and her siblings were produced from listed stakes winner Drina, whose sire, 1978 Jamaica Handicap (USA-G3) winner Regal and Royal (Vaguely Noble x Native Street), was a useful regional sire in Florida. Drina is a half sister to Stelluchella (by Honor Grades), dam of restricted stakes winner Ex Ex Ex (by Read the Footnotes), and to Wandering Pine (by Country Pine), dam of Panamanian stakes winner Capomorano (by Bluegrass Cat) and second dam of multiple Group 1 winner Pleascach.
Drina, in turn, is out of the winning Private Account mare Wandering Lace, whose half sister Romance Lady is the dam of Japanese stakes winner V Yamato (by Warning). The next dam in Spain’s tail-female line, Shujinsky (Nijinsky II x Shufleur, by Tom Rolfe), is a full sister to multiple Grade 3 winner Manzotti. Shujinsky is also a half sister to Marsh Maid (by Coastal), dam of stakes winner Crafty Cash (by Crafty Prospector). The female line traces back to 1970 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Levee.
Books and media
Footage of Spain’s upset win in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Distaff can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzO7tt-Zmjc.
Fun facts
Last updated: February 19, 2026
Race record
35 starts, 9 wins, 9 seconds, 7 thirds, US$3,540,542
1999:
- 2nd Vinery Del Mar Debutante Stakes (USA-G1, 7FD, Del Mar)
- 3rd Oak Leaf Stakes (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Santa Anita)
2000:
- Won Breeders; Cup Distaff (USA-G1, 9FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won La Brea Stakes (USA-G1, 7FD, Santa Anita)
- Won Monmouth Breeders' Cup Oaks (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Monmouth)
- Won Turfway Breeders' Cup Stakes (USA-G3, 8.5FD, Turfway Park)
- 2nd Three Chimneys Spinster Stakes (USA-G1, 9FD, Keeneland)
- 2nd Las Virgenes Stakes (USA-G1, 8FD, Santa Anita)
- 2nd Falls City Handicap (USA-G3, 9FD, Churchill Downs)
- 3rd Alabama Stakes (USA-G1, 10FD, Saratoga)
2001:
- Won La Canada Stakes (USA-G2, 9FD, Santa Anita)
- 2nd Breeders' Cup Distaff (USA-G1, 9FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (USA-G1, 9FD, Santa Anita)
- 2nd El Encino Stakes (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Santa Anita)
- 3rd Beldame Stakes (USA-G1, 9FD, Belmont)
- 3rd Turfway Breeders' Cup Stakes (USA-G3, 8.5FD, Turfway Park)
2002:
- Won Louisville Breeders' Cup Handicap (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Fleur de Lis Handicap (USA-G2, 9FD, Churchill Downs)
- 2nd Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (USA-G1, 9FD, Santa Anita)
- 3rd Santa Monica Handicap (USA-G1, 7FD, Santa Anita)
- 3rd Molly Pitcher Breeders' Cup Handicap (USA-G2, 9FD, Monmouth)
Assessments
Rated at 118 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juvenile fillies of 1999, 5 pounds below co-highweights Chilukki (the official divisional champion), Cash Run, and Surfside.
Rated at 122 pounds on the 2000 International Classification, 4 pounds below top 3-year-old filly Egyptband but tied with Petruska and Jostle for second among 3-year-old fillies and with Jostle for tops among American 3-year-old fillies, 2 pounds above American champion 3-year-old filly Surfside.
In 2001, rated at 123 pounds by Timeform, 13 pounds below the overall highweight, Sakhee (a multiple highweight in England and France), and 1 pound below the top filly or mare, Sunline (the Horse of the Year in Australia and New Zealand).
As an individual
A bay mare; no further information available.
As a producer
Spain produced 10 named foals; all started and four won. Her important foals are as follow:
- Plan (2005, by Storm Cat) won the 2008 Keeneland International Stakes (USA-G3) and was the runner-up in the 2008 Secretariat Stakes (USA-G1). After standing in Kentucky, Canada, and Maryland in 2011-2015, he was exported to South Korea, where he died in 2019. According to the Jockey Club, he sired 85 foals, none of which were stakes winners.
- Dreamtheimpossible (2006, by Giant’s Causeway) was a listed stakes winner in Ireland and ran third in the 2008 Fillies’ Mile (ENG-G1).
- Green Diamond Lady (2008, by Johannesburg) won two of her six starts and produced French listed stakes winner Lady Galore (by Raven’s Pass).
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Spain was bred and owned by The Thoroughbred Corp., the breeding and racing operation of Prince Ahmed bin Salman. She was trained by D. Wayne Lukas. Following the death of her owner in 2002, Spain was offered at the 2003 Keeneland November mixed sale, in foal to Storm Cat, and sold to Gerry Dilger's Dromoland Farm for $5.3 million. After passing to the ownership of the Coolmore conglomerate, she is last recorded as having produced an unnamed colt by American Pharoah in 2017; she is believed to have died a few years later.
Pedigree notes
Spain is inbred 4x5 to the breed-shaping sire Northern Dancer (the 1964 Canadian Horse of the Year and American champion 3-year-old male) and 5x4 to two-time American Horse of the Year Native Dancer (the maternal grandsire of Northern Dancer). She is a full sister to restricted stakes winner Path of Thunder, dam of 2011 Virginia Oaks (USA-G3) winner Excited (by Giant’s Causeway; dam of stakes winner Thrilled, by Uncle Mo) and stakes winner Wait Til Dawn (by Giant’s Causeway). Spain is a half sister to multiple Grade 2 winner Puerto Banus (by Supremo) and 2007 Golden Gate Breeders’ Cup Stakes (USA-G3) winner Fantastic Spain (by Fantastic Fellow).
Spain and her siblings were produced from listed stakes winner Drina, whose sire, 1978 Jamaica Handicap (USA-G3) winner Regal and Royal (Vaguely Noble x Native Street), was a useful regional sire in Florida. Drina is a half sister to Stelluchella (by Honor Grades), dam of restricted stakes winner Ex Ex Ex (by Read the Footnotes), and to Wandering Pine (by Country Pine), dam of Panamanian stakes winner Capomorano (by Bluegrass Cat) and second dam of multiple Group 1 winner Pleascach.
Drina, in turn, is out of the winning Private Account mare Wandering Lace, whose half sister Romance Lady is the dam of Japanese stakes winner V Yamato (by Warning). The next dam in Spain’s tail-female line, Shujinsky (Nijinsky II x Shufleur, by Tom Rolfe), is a full sister to multiple Grade 3 winner Manzotti. Shujinsky is also a half sister to Marsh Maid (by Coastal), dam of stakes winner Crafty Cash (by Crafty Prospector). The female line traces back to 1970 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Levee.
Books and media
Footage of Spain’s upset win in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Distaff can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzO7tt-Zmjc.
Fun facts
- Spain was a US$25,000 buyback from the 1998 Keeneland September yearling sale.
- Spain’s winning Breeders’ Cup payoff of $113.80 on a $2 bet was the second-highest in Breeders’ Cup history up to that time. (The record was set by 1993 Breeders’ Cup Classic, USA-G1, winner Arcangues, who paid $269.20; through the 2025 Breeders’ Cup, that record still stands.)
- Spain was the first Breeders’ Cup winner for Victor Espinoza and the 16th of an eventual 20 Breeders’ Cup winners for D. Wayne Lukas.
- Spain was in foal to Storm Cat at the time of her victory in the 2002 Fleur de Lis Handicap. The foal she was carrying, later named Carpocrates, sold for $2.4 million to Dromoland Farm as a weanling at the 2003 Keeneland November sale.
Last updated: February 19, 2026