Mairzy Doates (foaled 1 April, 1976 in Kentucky) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and four time graded stakes winner. She was owned by New York City art dealer Arno D. Schefler.
Trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Horatio Luro, in 1981, Mairzy Doates competed successfully at racetracks in Florida, California and New York. By July of the year, she was considered a leading contender for turf-racing fillies in North America. In November, she went to Tokyo, Japan where she beat an international field to win the inaugural Japan Cup.
Mairzy Doates was born in Kentucky, April 1, 1976, bred by Preston and Patrick Madden, a pair of horse-training brothers who operated out of Hamburg Place farm, Lexington. Her sire was Nodouble, a multiple graded stakes winner that had retired to stud in 1971, and would later become the leading sire in North America in 1981. In contrast her dam, Avalanche Lily, had only raced lightly and never won. However she was a foal of leading sire T. V. Lark, and a descendant of Man o' War. Mairzy Doates' mare line descended directly from Cinq a Sept, winner of the 1927 Irish Oaks, meaning Mairzy Doates was a distant relative of Secretariat.
Two years later, Schefler purchased Mairzy Doates as a weanling from the Maddens, and chose her name, a reference to the novelty song "Mairzy Doats" made popular in a 1943 recording by bandleader Al Trace. She was briefly trained by Angel Penna and then Mickey Preger in the year, but by winter Schefler had handed Mairzy Doates to Horatio Luro, a famous horse-trainer who Schefler had become acquainted with in the early 1970s. Mairzy Doates was brought to Luro's stable in Miami, where in training she had to monitored closely due to the weakness of her ankles.
Before handing Mairzy Doates over to Luco, Preger raced her once as a two year old, with Mairzy Doates placing sixth out of ten racers at the Aqueduct Racetrack. Over the two months Mairzy Doates vied several times for a win in a maiden race, eventually coming first on her fourth attempt on 4 February, 1979. Her first graded race, the Grade 3 Ruthless Stakes on 18 February, went poorly; Mairzy Doates remained thoroughly distanced from the other horses for the entirety of the race until her jockey George Martens eased her before the finish line.
Following her victory in Japan, Mairzy Doates' retirement was announced by the end of January 1982. At the time of her retirement, she was the 16th highest money earner in the world for female horses, as well as the highest earning mare globally for 1981. She was transferred to Hurstland Farm in Midway, Kentucky, to stand as a breeding mare, and was quickly paired with the popular French sire Lyphard. Schefler had hoped for a filly to name her 'Dozy Doates'. However, Mairzy Doates' first foal was instead a colt called Mairzy Dancer.
Mairzy Doates was not considered a successful broodmare. Most of her children did not race, and those which did rarely won. However, Mairzy Doates' final foal, a filly called Nachtigall born in 1998,, sired Etoile Nocturne, a graded winner through the 2009 Grade 3 Hamburg Trophy ran in Hamburg.
Since Mairzy Doatesâ retirement, five races at different racecourses have been named in her honor.