Malathaat ended her season—and her career—with a spectacular win at the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Keenelandbut it was her steady performance throughout the year that led her to the older women’s title.
Shadwell Stable’s 4-year-old daughter make for curly together won three races in the second half of the season, winning the Personal Stakes (G1) in August at Racecourse SaratogaSpinster Stakes (G1) in October at Keeneland, and Distaff returns to the Lexington track she has never been beaten.
In addition to the 2021 campaign that sees Malathaat crowned champion with the chubby 3-year-old, Todd Pletcher begins the next season in April in Keeneland, where she delivers in the Doubledogdare Stakes (G3). Claire proved her toughest opponent, beating her by a head in Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park in June and turned against the Shuvee Stakes (G2) in Saratoga in July. But from August to November, there is no denying the great bay with its unmistakable firelight.
Malathaat runs six times in 2022 and is no less than runner-up twice, with a full-season earnings of $2,055,675. After Her Breeders’ Cup Distaff Thriller, The Movie Seen Her Advantage blue stripes by one shot with Clairiere another by third, she retired to join Shadwell’s broodmare band with a career track of 10-3-1 from 14 starts, earning $3,790.825 la. She will be bred to into naughty This year.
Malathaat was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings from an AP Indy mare that was ranked 1st Dreaming of Julia I’m the daughter of the 1st grade champion Dreams in a hurry . She brought in $1.05 million from Shadwell Estate, which bought her from Denali Stud’s consignment for Keeneland’s September 2019 Annual Sale. As one of the last horses directly purchased by the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, it began racing in October 2020. Sheikh Hamdan passed away in March 2021 and Malathaat remains a special runner for Sheikha Hissa. bint Hamdan Al Maktoum, his daughter who took over Shadwell.
“My late father was the best horseman I ever knew, and he spoke fondly of only a handful of his mares… and I had heard him speak of Malathaat even before when she started her career at the age of 3,” Sheikha Hissa told Michael Adolphson for BloodHorse. “He’s a quiet and reserved man, so the fact that he spoke so affectionately about a 2-year-old that still had a lot to prove surprised me. I’m glad she’s still there. as good as he believes.”
