Undefeated Grade 1 Winner Cavalieri Retires to Stud Career

Speedway Stables' Cavalieri retired with a perfect record intact, and the business logic behind the decision is as clean as her race chart. The undefeated daughter of Nyquist, out of the Stephen Got Even mare Stiffed, closed out a flawless 5-for-5 career after Speedway co-owners Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner announced her retirement on April 9. John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale Farm has acquired a majority interest in the mare, with Speedway retaining a stake in her breeding career.

The arithmetic favoring retirement over another campaign was straightforward. Cavalieri had not recorded a work since her September 28 Zenyatta Stakes victory at Santa Anita, where she prevailed by 1 3/4 lengths as the 7-10 favorite under jockey Juan Hernández despite hopping at the start. A minor injury then forced her out of the Breeders' Cup Distaff, where she had been regarded as a top contender. Sending her back to the track risked a blemish on a record that, unmarked, now commands a broodmare premium that only a handful of fillies can claim.

"She was a perfect 5-for-5, an amazing talent and an alpha female, who thrilled us each and every time she waltzed past her competition," said Fluor. "In light of the fact she has nothing more to prove race-wise, it was considered appropriate timing to breed her."

Cavalieri broke her maiden on debut as a 3-year-old in 2024 at Del Mar, then quickly climbed the ranks to earn her first graded stakes victory in just her third start in the 2025 La Cañada Stakes (G3). The pinnacle of her career came two months later when she notched a Grade 1 victory in the B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile Stakes at Santa Anita on March 8, 2025. She covered the mile in 1:34.96, repelling stablemate Richi and a field that included shippers Tarifa and Hoosier Philly.

The pedigree case for Hill 'n' Dale's acquisition is equally compelling. Nyquist, her sire, posted four Grade 1 winners in 2025 and will stand for $175,000 at Darley's Jonabell Farm in 2026. As an undefeated daughter of a stallion at the peak of his commercial power, Cavalieri enters the breeding shed with the kind of credentials that attract the industry's most coveted sires. Her dam, Stiffed, is by Stephen Got Even, adding a strong stamina base through the sire line of Gone West.

Sikura framed the acquisition in terms of scarcity: "She is a supreme physical who was never challenged on the racetrack. These types of mares are rare." He added that mating plans would be decided shortly.

Cavalieri was purchased by Speedway Stables for $900,000 as a 2-year-old at the 2023 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, after breezing a quarter-mile in :20 2/5 during the under-tack show for Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables. Before that, she had sold as a yearling for $170,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Sale. The return on that investment, measured both in black-type and in bloodstock value, proved exceptional.

Trainer Bob Baffert, who received specific praise from Fluor for training the filly "to the minute," now loses one of his headline fillies in the older female division. Her absence creates a genuine opening at the top of the West Coast distaff ranks heading into the summer stakes calendar, with no clear heir apparent to her dominance. For Hill 'n' Dale, the transaction is precisely the kind of foundational broodmare acquisition that shapes a breeding operation's trajectory for decades.