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‘Simply a superstar’ – Dunlop recalls Ouija Board’s two Breeders’ Cup wins

By Racing TV

Last Updated: Wed 28 Oct 2026

All eyes will be on Keeneland this weekend, but 20 years ago Churchill Downs was the scene of the final victory for one of the sport’s greatest racemares, Ouija Board.

A winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf under an inspired Kieren Fallon at Lone Star Park in 2004, she surrendered her crown at Belmont Park a year later.

But with retirement approaching, she headed to Kentucky for one final hurrah stateside, regaining her title under Frankie Dettori, memories of which remain as clear as ever for trainer Ed Dunlop.

“Ouija Board was one of two horses of a lifetime I have trained alongside Snow Fairy and she was incredible,” Dunlop told the Press Association.

“Lone Star Park was a fantastic day and it was a one-day meeting back then not two days. There were two British-trained runners and I think we both won, Jeremy Noseda’s Wilko and ourselves, and it was great.

“She got beat on her second start at the Breeders’ Cup with Jerry Bailey on board, but came back the following year at Churchill Downs and won again, and they are memories we will cherish for a long time.

“All of her great victories were exciting for us and she was a special filly, but to win two Breeders’ Cup races with any horse is pretty phenomenal.

“It’s a long time ago, but fortunately now there’s social media we sometimes get clips of her which is great and recently I did a feature for one of the TV channels where we watched back all her races and it brought back great memories for myself and all my team who were involved with her.”

Despite her exploits in America and when taking her connections on a journey the world over with appearances in France, Hong Kong, Japan and Dubai, Ouija Board’s legacy was cemented thanks to her exploits on home soil.

A winner of 10 of her 22 career outings, she won the Oaks both in England and Ireland during a brilliant three-year-old season which included her first Breeders’ Cup success and only defeat coming when mixing it with the colts to finish third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

An interrupted four-year-old season would climax with Hong Kong Vase glory, while at five she would claim Prince of Wales’s Stakes honours at Royal Ascot and come out on top in the famous Nassau Stakes battle with Jim Bolger’s Alexander Goldrun.

Ouija Board would continue to have her say on the racing landscape when the best of her offspring Australia would follow in her footsteps at Epsom.

“She had some physical issues as a four-year-old, but she was tough, very genuine, honest and was simply a superstar,” continued Dunlop.

“Most people remember her for her duel on the downs with Alexander Goldrun in the Nassau. There was many great days with her, Classics, Royal Ascot, but to have a dual Breeders’ Cup winner while we’re all thinking about it, was a real honour.

“She went all across the world and then bred a Derby winner, she was a special horse.”

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