Black Maria (/məˈraɪə/mə-RY-ə; 1923–1932) was an AmericanThoroughbred racingfilly who earned nationalChampion honors three times.

Bred in Kentucky byWilliam R. Coe, she was sired byBlack Toney, the great foundationstallion ofIdle Hour Stock Farm.^[1] Her dam was Bird Loose, a daughter of theFrench stallionSardanapale, a two-timeLeading sire in France who won the 1914Prix du Jockey Club and, at the time France's most important race, theGrand Prix de Paris.^[2]

Black Maria raced as a two-year-old and won but did not claim victory in any of the top races for her age group. A filly who regularly raced against male horses, after winning theKentucky Oaks for fillies, she defeated males in the Saratoga Sales Stakes and theAqueduct Handicap. Her performances at age three earned herAmerican Champion Three-Year-Old Filly honors. Black Maria was voted the 1927 and 1928American Champion Older Female Horse, highlighted by her defeat of males in the preeminent race on theU.S. East Coast for milers, theMetropolitan Handicap in a performance that madeThe New York Times call her "a great race mare."^[3] At age five, she beat her male counterparts again to win theWhitney Handicap.

In 1932, Black Maria suffered a broken leg as a result of apaddock accident and was humanely destroyed.

She was named after an earlier world-famous black racehorse, the second element of whose name was pronounced/məˈraɪə/mə-RY-ə in accordance with thetraditional English pronunciation of Latin and Latin-based names always used at that time. The first Black Maria was foaled inHarlem, New York in 1826. She won so many races her purse winnings alone amounted to nearly $15,000, a very large sum for the period. Her most famous exploit occurred on 13 October 1832 when she won the race for the Jockey Club purse of $600 at the Union Course. In 1870, an article about her inHarper's New Monthly Magazine said: "The track was heavy, and yet, to achieve a victory, twenty miles had to be run. We wonder if there is a horse on the turf to-day that could stand up under such a performance as this?."

Her speed was implied in the nickname given to horse-drawn black (or dark blue) police prisoner vans of the period, swiftly whisking felons away from the scene of a crime. This name for a police van was adopted in Britain and even France where a similar term was already in use.

• 1923 racehorse births
• 1932 racehorse deaths
• Racehorses bred in Kentucky
• Racehorses trained in the United States
• American Champion racehorses
• Kentucky Oaks winners
• Thoroughbred family 14-a

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata