Of the many stakes that were contested at Hollywood Park, it would not be a stretch to include the Matriarch as one of the biggest events held at the Track of the Lakes and Flowers every year.

In a way, that is actually remarkable. Unlike the Hollywood Gold Cup, Californian or Sunset Handicap, the Matriarch was far younger than the stakes that had been a staple on Prairie Avenue since the 1930s. It was not until 1981, the first year Hollypark hosted autumn racing, that the Matriarch came to be.

As the years went by, the Matriarch saw its share of good horses and future champions enter its roll call of winners. It was part of Royal Heroine's Eclipse Award-winning 1984 campaign when she was crowned Champion Grass Mare (now Champion Female Turf Horse. Wandesta and Ryafan followed in 1996 and 1997, respectively, and Intercontinental captured the 2004 renewal a year before being voted the top horse in that same division. All of those horses gave the Matriarch added prestige as they took their turn as winner of the event.

You will also find notable turf horses like Sangue (1983), Claire Marine (1989), Exchange (1994), Heat Haze (2003), Precious Kitten (2007), Ventura (2009), and Uni (2018, later the 2019 Female Turf Horse champion) among those who found victory in the Matriarch.

But the most memorable horse to ever be associated with the Matriarch is Flawlessly.

Trained by Charlie Whittingham after moving from Richard Dutrow's barn in 1991, this multiple Grade I winner lived up to her name in regards to the Matriarch. She competed in the race three times, the first of which came in 1991. Already acquainted with the Hollywood Park turf course thanks to capturing a minor stakes race in the summer, Flawlessly and Chris McCarron left the gate well in the mile and one-eighth Matriarch. They found themselves in the middle of the field when they got to the first turn as longshot Susurration took the pack down the grass course while setting sensible fractions. But Flawlessly and McCarron bided their time, racing methodically as the Matriarch continued.

Along the rail going down the backstretch, they moved clear of it in the far turn. Moving to the outside, the duo had a wide trip as they turned for home, but no one was directly in front of them, either. Flawlessly had saved a little something for the stretch run, and she used it to produce a brilliant burst of speed to clear her rivals and cap off 1991 with her first Grade I victory with a time of 1:46 3/5.

As 1992 wound down, the Matriarch again served as the season finale for the talented Affirmed filly. She had been first or second in all her starts that year, and she went into the Matriarch with a chance to be the race's first multiple winner. Joining her in the race was a rival from the previous year's Matriarch: Kostroma, who was ridden by Kent Desormeaux. Kostroma set the pace this time around as Flawlessly and McCarron again found themselves in mid-pack. The difference on this occasion, however, was they were not on the inside. The two raced a couple of paths from the rail, and when it came time for the stretch run, they were in a very similar position like before.

And just as she had done in 1991, Flawlessly called upon something extra as she battled with Kostroma and Super Staff in the final seconds of the Matriarch. Her dark bay frame powered past her two rivals as she made history by becoming the first two-time champion of the Matriarch in a hard-fought and laudable effort. She also finished the race faster than the year before, getting the distance in 1:46.14. And that clinched the title of Champion Grass Mare for Flawlessly after a terrific campaign that saw her never finish out of the top two.

That repeat win made Flawlessly a legend in the Matriarch, but racing fans saw her return for a third time in 1993. Save for a ninth in the Breeders' Cup Mile, Flawlessly's five-year-old season had been similar to 1992; she had again been first or second in each start. As one would expect, Flawlessly and McCarron received the most backing from bettors, going off at 9-10.

The 1993 Matriarch did not have Kostroma in its lineup, so the early pacesetter was Elizabeth Bay. The fractions were not all that different from the previous two years, but the field was split into two groups for a sizable portion of the contest. Flawlessly led the second unit, and McCarron wisely had her save ground like in 1991. Everyone was reunited going into the far turn, but Flawlessly was still on the inside. She needed room to run to the front and keep her Matriarch title.

And she got it.

As Elizabeth Bay turned for home, she left the inside open. McCarron sent Flawlessly through it, and she emerged as the leader in early stretch. In the race she owned for the last two years, Flawlessly kept something in reserve. Racing on the inside, she showed great effort as she looked to put her stamp on the Matriarch. In the last part of the race, only Toussaud had anything left to challenge Flawlessly. She delivered a game performance, to be sure, but she could not get by the two-time and defending champion.

In what proved to be her last start for 1993, Flawlessly again secured the Champion Grass Mare honor, but she did more than that when she reached the wire at Hollywood Park. She became the greatest horse in the history of the Matriarch, winning it for the third consecutive year with a time of 1:46.78. No one has even approached that amazing record since then, for no horse after Flawlessly has managed to win the Matriarch more than once.

To win any graded stakes race is a terrific achievement. Winning the same race in back-to-back years is something even more special. But to do so three years in a row? That is rarified air. Of all the winners of the Matriarch, no one comes close to the Grade I's lone three-time winner.

Indeed, Flawlessly lived up to her name in regards to the Matriarch. No one ever beat her in the race, and she showed her grit each time as she got to the front and never let anybody move ahead of her. She raced on the inside and the outside. She charged to the lead with aplomb. And she earned all three of those wins.

And that tally, along with the fact she went undefeated in that particular event, makes Flawlessly the undisputed matriarch of the Matriarch.