This week we will run a series of 10 Maryland Million Moments, indelible moments that have helped to define the meaning of Maryland’s Day at the Races. Here, Safely Kept wins her third consecutive Maryland Million Distaff.

Safely Kept had already secured her place among the greats, earning an Eclipse Award and a Breeders’ Cup Sprint victory over the boys. Her 1991 Maryland Million Distaff victory served as a fitting exclamation point to a remarkable career.

Racing under the colors of Jayeff B Stable and trained by Alan Goldberg, the Maryland-bred daughter of Horatius once again proved her class at Pimlico, dueling under Gary Stevens before inching away to win by a half-length. It marked her third consecutive Distaff triumph and showcased the grit and brilliance that defined her as one of the best sprinters of her era. To this day no horse has won more than three Maryland Million races.

Bred by Mr. and Mrs. David Hayden, Safely Kept built a career few could match: 31 starts, 24 wins, and nearly $2.2 million in earnings. She captured the 1989 Eclipse Award as champion sprinter and followed it with a victory in the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, defeating a world-class field. The Distaff, though, was her home stage—three straight years of dominance that might have become four had she not been upset as a 2-year-old in the Maryland Million Lassie.

For breeder David Hayden, her story began with a flash of intuition. Shortly after the filly’s birth, he told a reporter, “We just had a filly by Horatius, and if she ever rose up, the way she looks right now as a baby, she’d be a champion.” Time proved him right.

When she was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2011, and later as part of the inaugural class of the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame, it only made official what Maryland fans had long known. Safely Kept was more than a champion; she was a legend whose consistency, courage, and speed made her one of the defining stars of the Maryland Million and one for the ages.