Hayes believed in starting his horses young, so Cicada first raced in February 1961 at Hialeah Park Race Track and won easily by 4½ lengths. She won one allowance race and lost one before being entered in her first stakes race. She lost the Fashion Stakes, but then won her third allowance easily. She won the Blue Hen Stakes wire-to-wire, winning by 5½ lengths. Cicada was never out of the money in her sixteen starts as a two-year-old. She won eleven of those races and set a new record for earnings by a filly. Her stakes victories included the Schuylerville, Frizette, Matron, and Spinaway. She was named the Champion two-year-old filly of 1961. In her first race in 1962 as a three-year-old, she won an allowance race against older males. She then ran one of her most courageous efforts in the Florida Derby, a major prep for the Kentucky Derby against some of the best colts in the country. It turned into a two horse battle between Cicada and Ridan, with Cicada losing by a nose. After she easily won the Oaks Prep she was considered for the Kentucky Derby but her stablemate Sir Gaylord was entered instead, then went lame and was unable to race. Cicada entered the Kentucky Oaks and won by three lengths. The purse made her the world's leading money-winning filly or mare of all time, replacing Bewitch. She finished the year with 8 wins from 17 starts. Her other wins included the Acorn, Mother Goose and Beldame Stakes, in which she broke Kelso's track record for nine furlongs at Aqueduct. She also finished second in the Coaching Club American Oaks and third in the Alabama Stakes. She received the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Three-Year-Old Filly of 1962. At age four, Cicada raced eight times and won four: the Columbiana, Sheepshead Bay, Vagrancy and Distaff handicaps. She was awarded the title of Champion older female horse of 1963. She suffered an injury and was temporarily retired, then returned at age five for one last race in which she finished fourth. In 1967, Cicada was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. In 1993, the Cicada Stakes at Aqueduct was created in her honor. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, she was ranked #62.
Breeding record
As a broodmare, Cicada was not a great success. In her first season, she proved barren and was returned to the races. Retired a second time, she foaled Cicada's Pride in 1966 who won the 1968 Juvenile Stakes at Belmont Park. She produced a total of four winners from six live foals. Cicada lived until the age of 22, dying in 1981. She is buried at Jonabell Farm in Kentucky.
