In Adios, Loua Dipa is in the rarest of territories

by Brett Sturman 

While it has become somewhat more commonplace on the trotting side, a 3-year-old filly beating male rivals at the highest of levels has been extremely rare on the pacing side. So rare in fact — and an indication of just how nearly impossible it is — that it’s hardly ever been attempted.

That’s what makes the news of Loua Dipa entering this year’s Adios No. 60 so significant. According to the press release issued by The Meadows this week, Loua Dipa becomes the first filly to enter the Pace for the Orchids since the filly named With Thanks in 1969, which was in the race’s infancy in just its third year. With that filly not winning, it would naturally make Loua Dipa the first filly ever to take the race, if she wins.

What type of company does entering this race bring Loua Dipa into? The gold standard is Fan Hanover. Any conversation about a sophomore pacing filly beating male rivals immediately comes to her famed win in the 1981 Little Brown Jug; seemingly the highest honor for a pacing filly against males in the sport’s modern era.

Thinking and researching more on the subject, the list of fillies attempting to race against males — let alone winning — doesn’t seem to get much longer. Drop The Ball comes to mind when attempting to race in the 2011 Meadowlands Pace, but she broke in her elimination and finished ninth. There were big headlines last year when pacing filly Chantilly was nominated and had sustained payments into the 2025 North America Cup, but that never came to fruition and I’m not sure how realistic that ever was.

I’m not sure she ever received the accolades deserved for accomplishing the feat, but in 2020 Party Girl Hill did defeat 3-year-old males in her division of the Tattersalls Pace in 1:47.2 at The Red Mile. That year’s eventual Horse of the Year Tall Dark Stranger drew into the other Tattersalls division that day, but that’s one of those “what if’s” had those two been able to go head-to-head. It was widely cited at that time that in Party Girl Hill winning, she became only the second pacing filly to beat male rivals in a race worth at least $100,000 in the last 30 years.

It’s one of those things that this column in the past has attempted to explain but there’s no definitive answer: Why are fillies far more competitive against males on the trotting side than on the pacing side? Whatever the reason, the extreme rarity is what makes the Loua Dipa storyline much more compelling.

Back to present day, the connections of Loua Dipa have spoken confidently in published quotes this week, and for good reason. Last year’s Breeders Crown and Dan Patch winner has been in the process of establishing herself as a potentially generational filly, and a win in this year’s Adios would be massive in proving that legacy.

Loua Dipa’s race last on Saturday (July 11) in the Jerry Silverman Memorial at The Meadowlands is likely what gave her connections the last bit of confidence to give the green light for her entry into the Adios Pace. In winning the Silverman in a time of 1:48 over her hard-fought rival Be Perfect BG, she won faster than the Meadowlands Pace five races later, which went in a time of 1:48.1. Making it more impressive, Loua Dipa was used when making a move past the half-mile mark in a time of :53.3, whereas the half-mile call in the Meadowlands Pace was nearly a full second slower in a time of :54.2. The faster fractional splits and final time doesn’t necessarily outweigh a hundred years of limited precedent, but it does give reason to be more optimistic than normal for Loua Dipa’s chances.

After I complained last month about marquee horses meeting for the first time in an elimination instead of a final, the same has happened here with Loua Dipa against the supplemental entry, Pepsi North America Cup winner Odds On Mr Mamba in the first of two Adios eliminations set for this Saturday (July 18). What a matchup. The morning line has established Loua Dipa at 5-2 with Odds On Mr Mamba pegged early at 7-2 but it will be interesting to see which way the public goes. On one hand I’d think the male Odds On Mr Mamba would naturally have the advantage, but on the other hand it’s Loua Dipa for Burke at their home base. Not to be overlooked in the same elimination are two other Burke stablemates that are lurking, including PA Sire Stakes star Another C Note.

For a race that sometimes falls in the shadow of the days following the Meadowlands Pace, this year is a major exception. The supplemental entry of Odds On Mr Mamba and the inclusion of the filly Loua Dipa with a realistic chance to win could make this year’s Adios one of the most dramatic in the history of the race. And a win from Loua Dipa would put her name on the shortest of lists with immortal pacing fillies.