Among the first members of Alydar's progeny, she shared notable similarities and differences with her famous sire.

First, both of them were chestnuts. Second, they routinely finished in the top two and could win by double digit lengths. Third, they were favored in the majority of the races they started. Fourth, each one shared a passion for winning and consistency. And finally, both would become champions by the time they were retired.

As for the differences, there were two that were greatly significant. While Alydar was well known to come from off the pace more often than not, she liked to be much closer to the front. And unlike Alydar, who spent his entire career based on the Eastern side of the United States, she made Southern California her primary home.

Those two facts, along with her defeating males more than once, led Althea to stand out in her own right during her two seasons at the races.

Between the summer and fall of 1983, Althea put together a fine record that would bring her the Champion Two-Year-Old Filly title. With the exception of the Hollywood Futurity, she was third or better in her other eight starts while teaming with trainer D. Wayne Lukas and jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr. Hollywood Park was very much to her liking, as she won on debut there in early summer. She followed that up by placing second in the Grade II Landaluce and beating the boys in the Grade II Hollywood Juvenile Championship in July after mandhandling her opponents by ten lengths. Althea would also do well at the Home of Champions that fall, as she captured the Grade II Hollywood Starlet.

Those stints at Hollywood Park also revealed how Alydar gave Althea his ability to win sprints and routes. Althea won at five and six furlongs there in the summer, and the Starlet was run at a mile and a sixteenth. Moreover, she used tactical speed, either winning after leading early or stalking the pace. Indeed, the Track of the Lakes and Flowers served as host for the filly's various talents.

But Althea's grandest moment as a juvenile came at Del Mar. Starting twice at the track's summer season, she became the first horse to sweep the Grade II Del Mar Debutante and Del Mar Futurity. Both races were contested at a mile, and she won both by more than twenty lengths combined. What's more, she completed that double in just ten days, firmly establishing herself as a Del Mar legend before she went on to place in a pair of graded stakes at Santa Anita that autumn.

After her championship campaign, Althea would not race as much in 1984. Sprinting was largely a thing of the past for her, too. Of her six on-track appearances, the A Gleam would be the only one run under a mile. Even so, Althea still made an impact in Southern California at three years old.

Stationed at Santa Anita for the winter, she came up with wins in the Las Virgenes and Grade I Santa Susana before shipping out to Oaklawn. Hot Springs was equally productive for her, as she placed second in the Grade I Fantasy in what would be her last race with Pincay aboard (he rode her in every race up to that point). Now teaming with Patrick Valenzuela, Althea took down males again in the Grade I Arkansas Derby in a race record 1:46.80 that still stands going into 2025.

After Oaklawn, Althea headed to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. Four years after Genuine Risk brought girl power to Louisville, Althea became the favorite for the race's 110th edition. However, she was unable to succeed her under the Twin Spires. Chris McCarron obtained the riding assignment for this event, and Althea faded to finish near the back after being in early contention. Ironically, the 1984 Kentucky Derby would feature Pincay's lone win in the race, as he and Swale took the spoils that day. A return to Hollywood Park in the seven furlong A Gleam (which featured a reunion with Valenzuela) resulted in another off the board finish, and Althea finished up her career with eight wins and four seconds in fifteen starts.

The career of Althea did not have the length Alydar's did. But that also was not a deterrent. Althea had her sire's spirit for competition and winning, and she made sure history would remember her by the time her two-year-old campaign wrapped up.

She was more than Alydar's daughter. She was Althea.