Splendora's racing career ended with unfinished business, but not before the versatile mare established herself as one of the most accomplished runners in Bob Baffert's barn. Boyd Racing announced Tuesday that the five-year-old Audible mare is retired and will begin a broodmare career after 16 starts, 10 victories and $1,843,700 in earnings, according to Paulick Report.
The decision closes the book on a horse who developed from a promising graded-stakes performer into a Breeders' Cup winner and then successfully stretched her range around two turns. Splendora's defining performance came at Del Mar in the 2025 Filly & Mare Sprint, where jockey Flavien Prat delivered her from a powerful late run to a 4 3/4-length victory. It was her first graded-stakes win and immediately placed her among the leading female sprinters in the country.
Her 2026 campaign added depth to that résumé. Splendora opened the season with a victory in the D. Wayne Lukas Stakes at Santa Anita, then won the Beholder Mile for her second Grade 1 score after Boyd Racing joined the partnership. She followed with victories in the Shawnee, Molly Pitcher and Locust Grove, giving her three consecutive Grade 2 wins to finish her career. Her Locust Grove performance was particularly emphatic: she won the 1 1/16-mile Churchill Downs race by 5 1/4 lengths, reinforcing the idea that her best weapon was no longer limited to one-turn speed. Workout and race coverage documented the mare's progression toward the Breeders' Cup.
That momentum made her withdrawal from this year's Breeders' Cup Distaff one of the meeting's most consequential developments. Splendora had been prepared for the 1 1/8-mile test after her route-race breakthrough, but veterinarians advised against running after determining she was not fully right. “We are all disappointed,” Baffert said in Breeders' Cup notes carried by Yahoo Sports. “She just wasn't 100 percent,” he added, explaining that it would not be fair to the mare to proceed.
Boyd Racing's announcement thanked Baffert and his staff while describing Splendora as a willing competitor and a special part of the operation. Bred in Maryland by The Elkstone Group, she cost $125,000 as a yearling before becoming a multimillion-dollar-level earner on the racetrack. Her retirement also preserves the value of a mare whose record combines elite sprint credentials with proven two-turn form—a particularly attractive profile for a broodmare prospect. As Thoroughbred Daily News reported, Splendora retires with a 10-4-0 record from 16 starts and earnings of $1,843,700.