2024 Eclipse Awards: Soul of an Angel

In a division in which many fillies and mares traded Grade 1 wins, Soul of an Angel delivered the biggest win of them all. The mare, who faced top competition throughout the year, scored a major upset in the PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, a capstone race that made her an Eclipse Award finalist as outstanding female sprinter.

Already a minor stakes winner and Grade 3-placed, Soul of an Angel began to compete exclusively in graded stakes company after her private purchase by C2 Racing Stable, Agave Racing Stable, and Ken T. Reimer earlier this year, after Mark Cornett of C2 Racing had admired the mare in the paddock while racing against her in Florida. She was turned over to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., and in her first outing for the barn, she won the Grade 2 Ruffian Stakes going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct, defeating multiple Grade 1 winner Randomized.

Soul of an Angel would face reigning Eclipse Award champion older dirt female Idiomatic in her next three outings, all at 1 1/8 miles. She was fifth in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Saratoga, with the top three in that race comprised of Randomized, Idiomatic, and another champion, Pretty Mischievous. She then dueled Idiomatic to within a nose while second in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher Stakes at Monmouth, and was third in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes back at Saratoga, won by Eclipse finalist Raging Sea over Idiomatic.

:: Full list of 2024 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

After that effort, Joseph cut Soul of an Angel back to seven furlongs, and she won the Grade 3 Princess Rooney Stakes in September at Gulfstream Park, setting her up for a tilt around one turn at the Breeders’ Cup. In the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, Soul of an Angel, the second-longest shot on the board, rallied into a strong pace with a wide, sweeping run under Drayden Van Dyke. She reeled in the leaders and ran down multiple Grade 1 winner Society by a half-length to light up the board at 19-1.

“It’s a special moment to get our first Breeders’ Cup win, and for connections that have been so loyal to me,” Joseph said on the track after the win. “Just special. . . . Overall, the horse is the hero, and we’re just part of the process and enjoy the ride. I’m thankful and I’m blessed in that way, just to experience this. It’s something that I grew up as a kid, wanting to win a Breeders’ Cup race, and to get it done it means a lot.”

Soul of an Angel, one of several Breeders’ Cup winners expected to remain in training in 2025, made one more start to conclude the year, finishing third going a mile in the Rampart Stakes at Gulfstream. The veteran campaigner heads into her 6-year-old season with a record of 42-6-7-6 and earnings of $1,205,175.

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