The La Cañada Stakes is a Grade III American thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares age four-years-old and older over a distance of one-and-one-sixteenth miles on the dirt track held annually in January at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, USA.
The event was named after a 1843 Mexican land grant known as Rancho La Cañada in the San Rafael Hills and Crescenta Valley of Southern California.
[2][3] The inaugural running of the event was on 1 February 1975 over a distance of one-and-one-sixteenth miles and was won by the 1974 U.S. Champion Three-Year-Old Filly Chris Evert who carried 128 pounds, winning by a nose as the 13/10 favorite over Mercy Dee with Lucky Spell in third place 1+3⁄4 lengths away in a time of 1:413⁄5.
The 1996 winner Jewel Princess also won the Breeders' Cup Distaff and winning the U.S. Champion Older Filly award and being voted as United States Horse of the Year.
While the 2000 Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Spain won two legs of the La Cañada Series and finished second in the El Encino Stakes.