2021 Eclipse Awards: Ce Ce

Michael McCarthy long had suspected that Ce Ce could become a top-class performer around one turn, given the right circumstances. In 2021, those hopes were realized in dramatic fashion.

Five of the six races for Ce Ce during her 5-year-old campaign of 2021 were run at seven furlongs or shorter, and four of those resulted in victory – including the marquee race that often decides a divisional championship, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

“She really put everything together the way we thought she could,” said McCarthy, who trains Ce Ce for owner-breeder Bo Hirsch.

Ce Ce got time off after finishing fifth in her final start of 2020, the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff at 1 1/8 miles. McCarthy started her back in a conditioned allowance going seven furlongs at Sana Anita in mid-April, with the chestnut mare asserting her class in a 3 1/4-length score under Victor Espinoza, her regular rider throughout the year.

Following a failed effort five weeks later in the Grade 2 Santa Maria going 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita, McCarthy would remain steadfast in giving Ce Ce every chance to prove herself in shorter races. He shipped her cross-country to win the Grade 2 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream Park in early July, then sent her out to a third-place finish behind heavily favored Gamine, the reigning filly-mare sprint champion, in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga in late August.

:: Full list of 2021 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

Then came the two races that made for such a memorable year. A perfect pace setup that resulted in a five-length triumph in the Grade 3 Chillingworth at Santa Anita in early October preceded a remarkably similar scenario in the Nov. 6 BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar. With Espinoza biding his time in the early stages of the seven-furlong race, Ce Ce rallied boldly, sweeping to command at the furlong grounds and pulling away to a 2 1/2-length score.

Ce Ce was bred in Kentucky by Hirsch, a scion of one of California’s most renowned racing families. Hirsch, 72, was overjoyed at the mare winning at Del Mar, near where he lives in Rancho Santa Fe. “To win a race like this here at home is just so special,” he said.

Following her 4-for-6 season, Ce Ce’s career record stands at 8 for 16, with earnings of $1,753,100. She was a two-time Grade 1 winner at 4, when she accounted for the Apple Blossom and Beholder Mile.

Ce Ce remained in training after the Breeders’ Cup and has been on a regular breeze schedule at Santa Anita. McCarthy said a 6-year-old campaign will begin in the Santa Monica at Santa Anita or Inside Information at Gulfstream, with an ensuing “race-by-race” itinerary determining whether she will return to the BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland in November.