Champagne Room eyes Las Virgenes Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Champagne Room, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 5, is near a return to serious training and could have her 2017 debut in the $200,000 Las Virgenes Stakes on Feb. 5.

Trainer Peter Eurton said Friday that Champagne Room is in light training, which will intensify in the coming days.

“She’ll start galloping in a week,” he said. “She’ll have her first breeze in the middle of December.”

The one-mile, Grade 2 Las Virgenes is the first of three graded stakes around two turns for 3-year-old fillies in the winter and early spring at Santa Anita; they are designed as prep races for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 5. The schedule includes the $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles March 4 and the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles April 8.

Champagne Room won the BC Juvenile Fillies by three-quarters of a length at 33-1. By Broken Vow, Champagne Room has won 2 of 5 starts and has earned $1,286,600 for a partnership that includes Sharon Alesia, Joe Ciaglia, Exline Racing, and Gulliver Racing.

Champagne Room’s win in the BC Juvenile Fillies could result in an Eclipse Award and would be a first for Eurton, 59.