She never raced in Southern California. In fact, outside of one start at Delaware Park, she never left the New York circuit while in competition. But she became a presence out West by way of a couple of her offspring, notably an amazing daughter who nearly went undefeated in her career.

Sired by Kris S., Vertigineux (which means "dizzy" in French) spent the bulk of her career at Belmont Park. Active during the 1998-1999 seasons, the first three starts of her career saw Vertigineux trained by Thomas Skiffington. No placings were to be had during that stint, which occurred between late May and early July 1998.

Vertigineux would not return to the races until May 1999, one year to the day she made her debut. Now conditoned by Michael Dickinson, she picked up her first career win on Belmont Park's inner turf going a mile and one-quarter. She followed that up next time out with a win over that same course and distance against allowance foes. Those proved to be the highlights of Vertigineux's career, for she never again won or even placed in a race.

After starting in Saratoga's Grade III Glens Falls Handicap in the summer of 1999, Vertigineux exited the races and moved into a broodmare career. Sometimes horses who do not have a lot of success while racing turn out to do well in breeding. Count Vertigineux among those in the second category.

In the mid-2000s, Vertigineux was represented on the track by Balance, a daughter of 1995 Kentucky Derby champion Thunder Gulch. Based primarily in Southern California, Balance was a regular in the area's graded stakes ranks. She won a few of them before retiring, with the Grade I Las Virgenes Stakes and Santa Anita Oaks in 2006 and the Grade I Santa Margarita Handicap in 2007 among her scores. And like her dam, Balance could handle turf. In her career debut over Santa Anita's hillside turf course, Balance got the win.

While Balance was successful on track, Vertigineux's best horse was another daughter who loved to come from behind to win: Zenyatta. Sired by Street Cry, Zenyatta earned the status of living legend even before her racing career concluded. Winning nineteen consecutive starts, Zenyatta won stakes at Del Mar, Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Oaklawn Park. She captured seventeen graded stakes overall, with thirteen of them being a Grade I. Moreover, Zenyatta is the only horse to win three straight runnings of the Vanity Handicap (now called the Beholder Mile), and she is the only horse to win both the Breeders' Cup Distaff and Classic. And she also stands as the lone filly or mare to win the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Vertigineux also foaled a half-sister to Zenyatta. Known as Eblouissante (which means "dazzling" in French), she had a career similar to that of her dam's. A daughter of Bernardini, Eblouissante won on debut at Hollywood Park in 2012 and followed it up with a first against allowance company at Santa Anita in early 2013. And like Balance and Zenyatta, Eblouissante showed she could win going long (both of her victories came at a mile and one-sixteenth), and did so off the pace. All three of them emulated their dam in that sense, too: while Vertigineux did win a race while initially being close to the front, she was routinely well behind the pacesetter early on.

Vertigineux lived to the age of nineteen, passing in 2014. But not before she gave racing some talented daughters who became champions at racing's highest level. And they could be found more often than not in Southern California.

And that is where irony meets Vertigineux. She never started at any Southern California racetrack. But her name will always be part of the area thanks to the careers of Balance and Zenyatta, and also because of all the history Zenyatta made in her racing days.

Without Vertigineux, we never would have seen either of them or Eblouissante. And the racing landscape out West would be unimaginable as a result.