2023 Eclipse Awards: Inspiral

In 2021, Inspiral was the champion 2-year-old filly in Europe. The following year, she gained the 3-year-old filly title on that continent.

She may gain a championship on a different hemisphere for her 4-year-old campaign in 2023.

Inspiral is a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the leading turf female in the United States following her dazzling win in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at 1 1/4 miles on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

:: Full list of 2023 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

The $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf result was a championship-caliber performance by any measure, and it was Inspiral’s lone start in the United States.

Ridden by Frankie Dettori, Inspiral closed from ninth in a field of 12 in the final furlong to catch an unlucky Warm Heart, winning by a neck in a dramatic finish.

“They weren’t stopping,” winning trainer John Gosden said in a post-race press conference. “Normally, if they go too quick they come back. She’s a mighty filly to get there.”

Inspiral, bred and owned by Cheveley Park Stud of Newmarket, England, won for the ninth time in her 13th start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

She arrived in California for the Breeders’ Cup with a big reputation – and delivered.

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A Group 1 stakes winner at 2 and a two-time Group 1 winner at 3, Inspiral began her 2023 season with losses in two of Britain’s toughest one-mile races – a second by a neck in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in June and a dull fifth in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes over soft ground at Goodwood Racecourse in early August. The loss in the Sussex was only the second time in her career she finished outside of the top two.

Inspiral has not lost since.

Inspiral was a juicy 7-1 when she won the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville, France, on Aug. 13, run just 11 days after the Sussex. She earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile with that win.

In her final start of the year in Britain, Inspiral was the easy winner of the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile at Newmarket by 3 3/4 lengths as the 9-10 favorite.

In choosing a Breeders’ Cup race to enter, the Filly and Mare Turf was the race selection, even though Inspiral had never raced beyond a mile.

“The few times she got beat you can say the ground was too soft or she missed a jump or wasn’t quite ready,” Dettori said after the Breeders’ Cup. “When she’s on song, look, she’s beaten the colts twice.

“She won’t win a beauty contest, but she can run.”

Inspiral, by Frankel, has won six Group/Grade 1 races in her career, including five at a mile and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. After the win in the Breeders’ Cup, Richard Thompson of Cheveley Park said Inspiral will stay in training in 2024.

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