Though he does not send out very many horses to Southern California nowadays, there was a time when horses trained by D. Wayne Lukas would regularly show up in the daily programs around here.

Multiple names from said programs went on to become divisional champions, too. One name that might immediately come to mind is Charismatic. If you go back in time, you'll also come across Winning Colors. And then Lady's Secret a couple of years prior.

Oh, and course there is Landaluce, one of racing's undisputed stars during the second half of the 1982 season.

But another eventual champion conditioned by Lukas followed Landaluce the very next year. Like her predecessor, she made a stop at Del Mar. And over the course of ten days in the late summer of 1983, this daughter of Alydar transformed herself into a track legend with two stakes appearances.

Before arriving on Jimmy Durante Boulevard, Althea had completed a sensational Hollywood Park meeting that saw her become a graded stakes winner while placing in another. That growing reputation followed her to the starting gate for the Grade II Del Mar Debutante, for she was made the heavy favorite at odds of 3-10 to capture the September 4 event.

To say Althea won the Debutante would be an understatement. Really, she owned the race. Her five rivals were completely overmatched, and as Trevor Denman might say, Althea never gave them a chance. No stranger to winning by wide margins, Althea reached the wire an astonishing fifteen lengths ahead of the runner-up. She finished up the one-mile distance in 1:36.00. The race has long since become a sprint, but Althea is still among the faster winners of the Debutante during its time at eight furlongs.

Acquiring the Debutante trophy was fantastic enough, but Althea had more in store for the crowd by the beach. Wheeled back quickly, she was entered in the Grade II Del Mar Futurity against the boys on the 14th.

Facing males was nothing new for Althea. Her first graded stakes victory came in the Grade II Hollywood Juvenile Championship back in July, which saw her beat a future Eclipse Award winner in Precisionist. She manhandled the field that day before doing so again in the Debutante, and now she was in line to make it graded stakes scores on the trot.

With regular rider Laffit Pincay, Jr. aboard, Althea made it clear the Del Mar Futurity went through her. She had the lead early on, but was not challenged. Pincay later commented about that. "I was just sitting there waiting for someone to come by but they never did," he said. "On the final turn I finally started asking her and she responded."

No one had anything for Althea in the Debutante, and that was very much the case in the Futurity. Althea was again all by herself at the wire, more than six lengths clear as she swept her Del Mar starts. Her final time was 1:34.80, which put her level with Flying Paster, the 1978 winner, for the fastest Futurity at the distance. Like its sister race, the Futurity has been a sprint for many years. But when it comes to the renewals at a mile, no one ever ran it faster than Althea or the Paster.

Althea became the second female Thoroughbred to win the Futurity, following June Darling in 1970. But the chestnut's performance gave her a piece of history, for she became the first filly to sweep the biggest two-year-old races at the seaside. And as of this writing, no filly has ever duplicated that distinction.

After the Futurity wrapped, D. Wayne Lukas offered his take on Althea. "She is the best two-year-old in the country," he said. Many agreed with that assessment, at least in regards to her division. She went on to win more stakes at two, but the unprecedented Del Mar sweep certainly played a role in Althea being voted Champion Two-Year-Old Filly for 1983.

Althea never started at Del Mar again, but she exited that particular track as one of the most noteworthy horses of the 1983 season. She would have earned that status if she had just captured the Debutante. And she would have done so had she only taken the Futurity. But to sweep both races like she did? That is one of the grandest and most unique achievements ever seen at Del Mar.

Dozens of summers have come and gone at the venerable track, but Althea has remained one of its legends due to that amazing week and a half.

Sources: "I was just sitting..." Gillman, Tim. "Althea Beats the Guys to Win Futurity." Los Angeles Times September 15, 1985, Part III, p.14.

"She is the best..." Gillman, Tim. "Althea Beats the Guys to Win Futurity." Los Angeles Times September 15, 1985, Part III, p.1.