2022 Eclipse Awards: Leave No Trace
Leave No Trace overachieved from start to finish in 2022.
The dark bay filly began by capturing her career debut on July 20 at Saratoga, winning a 5 1/2-furlong restricted maiden race by 2 3/4 lengths as a 4-1 chance under Irad Ortiz Jr.
Then came an immediate breakthrough. Dismissed at 14-1 making her next start in the Grade 1 Spinaway on closing weekend at Saratoga, Leave No Trace pressed all the pace before edging clear in the final furlong of the seven-furlong race to prevail by 1 1/2 lengths over favored Wonder Wheel.
“With Leave No Trace, you get lucky enough to get a horse that can really run – and she can really run,” said trainer Phil Serpe. “That’s what you hope for every year.”
:: Full list of 2022 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories
In her next start, Leave No Trace finished third at nearly 8-1 behind Chocolate Gelato and You’re My Girl in the Grade 1 Frizette, held Oct. 2 over a sloppy track at the Belmont at the Big A meet. Then came her season finale in the Nov. 4 NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, a race that validated all she had done in previous starts.
Overlooked at 25-1 when assigned post 12 in a field of 13 in the Grade 1 Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland, Leave No Trace ran bravely, forcing the pace the entire 1 1/16-mile distance before settling for second, three lengths behind Wonder Wheel. All in all, it was a highly creditable effort.
“I don’t think the post position really helped us, but she broke so sharp and I had to just let her go,” said Jose Lezcano, who rode Leave No Trace in her last three races. “I think she put in a very good race. She’s a nice filly.”
“I thought she ran a very good race,” said Serpe. “She got the lead. Wonder Wheel beat her. We beat Wonder Wheel before. We’ll beat her again.”
Leave No Trace, the first graded stakes winner for her young sire, Outwork, was bred in Kentucky by Red Cloak Farm. She was purchased for $40,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sales in Maryland in October 2021 by the WellSpring Stables of Robert and Laura Vukovich of New Jersey and Florida.
Leave No Trace earned $598,650 from her four starts at 2. Following the Breeders’ Cup, she was given six weeks’ down time before returning to training in late December at Serpe’s winter base at Gulfstream Park in Florida. Serpe said an early-season campaign likely will begin at Gulfstream, with hopes of the Ashland at Keeneland and the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs to follow.
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