Kentucky Oaks legacies: 1966 winner Native Street

Sep 21, 2026 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Native Street winning the second division of the Jasmine S. at Hialeah in 1966

Native Street winning the second division of the Jasmine S. at Hialeah in 1966 (Photo courtesy of Keeneland Library/Raftery Collection)

This year marks the 60th anniversary of Native Street’s victory over Lady Pitt in the Kentucky Oaks. Regardless of the neat timing, the 1966 edition is memorable because of how influential those two fillies would turn out to be as broodmares.

To phrase it another way, the ancestress of Splendora and Auguste Rodin (Native Street) beat the ancestress of Flightline and Golden Tempo (Lady Pitt) at Churchill Downs.

Native Street was bred in Florida by Charles F. Kieser. She inherited her gray coat from her sire, Hall of Famer Native Dancer, whose only career loss was a tough-trip second in the 1953 Kentucky Derby.

Native Street’s mother was European import *Beaver Street (the asterisk is the original way to denote importation). She descended from Straitlace, winner of the 1924 Epsom Oaks and the Coronation S. at Royal Ascot.

Native Street was offered at the Florida-bred two-year-olds in training sale at Hialeah, where Abraham I. Savin’s Aisco Stable purchased her for $40,000. She would soon flash talent on the racetrack for football star-turned-trainer Les Lear, a Canadian Football League Hall of Famer who also played in the NFL.

Off to a precocious start as a juvenile, Native Street began her career with a three-race winning streak, including a pair of July stakes by daylight margins. She captured the 5 1/2-furlong Astoria S. at Aqueduct and the six-furlong Sorority S. at Monmouth Park, where she rolled by six lengths as the 4-5 favorite.

Native Street after romping in the 1965 Sorority S. at Monmouth Park

Native Street after romping in the 1965 Sorority S. at Monmouth Park (Photo courtesy of Keeneland Library/Raftery Collection)

Lady Pitt was already becoming a familiar rival, as a closing third in the Astoria and a non-threatening ninth in the Sorority. The more stoutly-bred Lady Pitt would come into her own going longer.

Native Street lost her perfect record when venturing to Chicagoland’s Arlington Park. Third in the Lassie Trial on an off track, she didn’t care for the slop in the Arlington-Washington Lassie S. either. She wound up fifth as the 1.30-1 favorite and headed to the sidelines.

Wintering in her home state of Florida, Native Street opened her 1966 campaign with a victory in a division of the six-furlong Jasmine S. at Hialeah. She placed in three other stakes, notably the Florida Breeders’ S. versus males and the 1 1/16-mile Orchid S. at Gulfstream Park, where Lady Pitt passed her to take second.

Native Street hit the road as the spring advanced. At Garden State Park in New Jersey, she won a division of the six-furlong Betsy Ross H. before shipping to Churchill Downs. She caught a sloppy track in the seven-furlong Oaks Prep S., challenged a game Justakiss, and settled for second.

Wheeling back for the May 6 Oaks, Native Street went off as the 2.90-1 second choice. Lady Pitt ranked as the 2-1 favorite, with bettors expecting her stamina to come into play. But she ended up too far behind the pace in the Oaks, then held at 1 1/16 miles, and Native Street’s tactical speed was clutch.

Justakiss made a rapid maneuver to angle over to the inside and grab the lead. Native Street stalked her, ranged up out wide to accost her on the far turn, and battled down the lane.

“All through the final quarter-mile they were never more than a head apart in a tingling duel,” Frank Talmadge Phelps recapped in the Bloodstock Breeders’ Review, “and on the post it was Native Street’s head first in 1m 44 4/5s. Lady Pitt closed much ground in the late stages to gain third place.”

But the stewards took a dim view of how Justakiss crossed over early, disqualifying her for interference and demoting her to last – “to the surprise of many observers,” in Phelps’ view. Thus Lady Pitt was elevated to second place in the official order of finish.

Native Street was the first half of an Oaks/Derby double for jockey Don Brumfield, who rode Kauai King in the Run for the Roses the next day. Kauai King was himself by Native Dancer, putting their sire in an exclusive club of stallions with Oaks and Derby winners in the same year. Native Dancer was only the fourth sire to achieve the feat, and no one has done it since.

Lady Pitt later clinched the divisional championship with several major wins, highlighted by the 1 1/8-mile Mother Goose S. and the 1 1/4-mile Coaching Club American Oaks.

Native Street was unfortunate to find Aqueduct sloppy for the Acorn S., which contributed to her subpar sixth. But her fourth in the Mother Goose signaled her stamina limitations.

Native Street’s only subsequent stakes win came in the six-furlong Interborough H., where she swept from off the pace by five dynamic lengths. But she was a respectable second in a division of the Test S., while giving six pounds to Moccasin, who had shared Horse of the Year honors in 1965. Native Street also went close in a trio of 1 1/16-mile stakes on turf and dirt before sustaining an ankle injury that ended her racing career.

Having won or placed in 19 of 24 starts, Native Street was both talented and largely consistent. But her broodmare career was more consequential, in historical terms. The same holds true for her frequent foe Lady Pitt, whose female descendants keep producing such celebrities as unbeaten Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) romper Flightline, Hall of Famer Heavenly Prize, and current Kentucky Derby and Belmont (G1) winner Golden Tempo.

Native Street’s best sons were both by the stamina-laden European *Vaguely Noble, who rebalanced her orientation toward speed. The full brothers had mirror-image names, Royal and Regal and Regal and Royal.

Royal and Regal scored his signature win in the 1973 Florida Derby (G1), beating Forego (albeit before he matured into his Hall of Fame career). In their rematch in the Kentucky Derby, neither could cope with the sensational Secretariat, but Forego fared better in fourth, and Royal and Regal checked in eighth.

The younger Regal and Royal likewise had his brush with greatness, placing third to Affirmed and Alydar in the 1977 Hopeful (G1). He went on to take the 1978 Jamaica H. (G3) at Belmont.

Although neither became supersires, each brother managed to get at least one high-profile daughter to carry on his bloodline. Royal and Regal sired Irish classic winner Arctique Royale, who became a deeply influential producer. Regal and Royal’s stakes-winning daughter Drina was a prolific broodmare, with $3.5 million-earner Spain, the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) upsetter, leading her offspring.

Native Street was bred to a brilliant sprinter who also raced for Savin and entered stud at his Florida farm – Mr. Prospector. Once he began to take off as a stallion, “Mr. P” was bound for the Bluegrass.

Their marriage gave close inbreeding to Native Dancer, but two of Native Street’s fillies by Mr. Prospector became successful producers, Prospector’s Fire and Mr. P.’s Girl.

Prospector’s Fire made a particularly enduring mark through her Grade 1-winning daughter, Fire the Groom, who in turn foaled European sprint star, Stravinsky. His legacy continues through his daughters. Most notable is the Stravinsky mare Life Happened, the mother of Hall of Famer Tepin.

Native Street’s match with Hall of Famer Dr. Fager has borne the greatest fruit.

One of their daughters, I Understand, produced five stakes winners. Seeker’s Gold, her Group 3 victress in Australia, is the ancestress of Splendora. The reigning Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) winner, Splendora has stretched out successfully this season. The Bob Baffert trainee sports three straight scores at 1 1/16 miles, most recently adding the Sept. 12 Locust Grove (G2) at Churchill.

But Native Street’s unraced daughter by Dr. Fager, Street’s Glory, has emerged as the most vital conduit of her female line. Her influence is channeled through her unraced daughter Fager’s Glory (by Mr. Prospector).

Although Fager’s Glory had several daughters to decorate the family, with her descendants as far afield as Japanese classic winner Nuovo Record, her daughter Rahaam became a spectacular broodmare in Europe.

Rahaam’s son Verglas won the 1996 Coventry (G3) at Royal Ascot and twice placed at the top level, including a runner-up effort in the 1997 Irish 2000 Guineas (G1). Verglas was also a solid sire.

Rahaam’s daughters keep the branch proliferating. Among her direct female-line descendants are 2018 Melbourne Cup (G1) victor Cross Counter and this year’s Coronation Cup (G1) conqueror Bay City Roller.

It’s fitting that Rahaam’s top performer on the racecourse, Cassandra Go, has also emerged as the most important standard-bearer of her line.

Preserving the gray coat of her great-great-grandma Native Street, Cassandra Go excelled in sprints. She beat males in the 2000 King George (G3) at Glorious Goodwood and reached her pinnacle in 2001, capturing the Temple (G2) and Royal Ascot’s King’s Stand (G2).

Cassandra Go produced three talented daughters – Group 3 scorers Theann and Tickled Pink (whose son Victoria Road won the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf [G1]) and the smartest of all, three-time Group 1 queen Halfway to Heaven.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Halfway to Heaven brought the family into the Coolmore fold. She stayed further than Cassandra Go, with her marquee scores coming in the Irish 1000 Guineas (G1), Sun Chariot (G1), and even the 1 1/4-mile Nassau (G1) in 2008.

Halfway to Heaven had two outstanding daughters – seven-time Group 1 star Magical, runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) in 2018 and 2020, and three-time Group 1 heroine Rhododendron, second in the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1).

Rhododendron’s son, Auguste Rodin, added six Grade/Group 1 wins to the trophy cabinet, including the 2023 Epsom/Irish Derby (G1) double, the Irish Champion (G1), and the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Auguste Rodin’s Epsom victory topped a trifecta for the influence of Native Street. Runner-up King of Steel is out of a Verglas mare, and third-placer White Birch is a fellow descendant of her granddaughter, Fager’s Glory.

Native Street could be described more accurately as an international superhighway in terms of her maternal influence.

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