2018 Eclipse Awards: Rushing Fall

Rushing Fall has been near perfect while competing almost exclusively in graded stakes company. Six for seven on her career and just a neck away from being unbeaten, the elegant filly is now an Eclipse Award finalist for the second time.

Rushing Fall, a daughter of More Than Ready and Autumnal bred by Fred W. Hertrich III and John D. Fielding, was scouted out by bloodstock agent Mike Ryan on behalf of e Five Racing Thoroughbreds at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, where she sold for $320,000. The filly lived up to her high billing, winning all three of her starts in 2017. After winning on debut, she burst onto the graded stakes scene with a 3 1/4-length romp in the Grade 3 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland. She then capped things off with a three-quarter length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar, in which she was six wide into the lane. The campaign made her an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding 2-year-old filly, an award that ultimately went to Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Caledonia Road.

Trainer Chad Brown brought Rushing Fall back in the Grade 2 Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland in April 2018, which she won by a workmanlike length. But the filly then suffered her only defeat, in the Grade 3 Edgewood Stakes on the Kentucky Oaks undercard. Rushing Fall was steadied on the first turn, was keen and aggressive to make the lead, and then was edged by a neck by Toinette in a long drive.

:: 2018 Eclipse Finalists: Profiles and photos for all categories

“She was fresh today and kind of ran off,” regular rider Javier Castellano said. “The pace was fast. I never got to cover her up like I wanted. She was a little aggressive, and it cost me the race.”

Rushing Fall returned in impressive fashion in August at Saratoga, rolling by 2 3/4 lengths over Grade 1 winner Capla Temptress in the Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes. She concluded the season in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, storming through the lane for a 1 1/4-length victory that cemented her status among the best of her crop.

“The filly’s phenomenal,” Bob Edwards of e Five said after that race. “We’ve had an unbelievable run with her. It’s all about the team. I had a Hall of Fame rider give a Hall of Fame ride. She’s an unbelievable filly picked by Mike Ryan, trained by Chad Brown – the connections are phenomenal. She’s well bred. Fred and his team have done a great job breeding horses. Just really happy to be here.”