Edgeway scratched from November sale, will seek Grade 1 win next year
Edgeway, second to Ce Ce in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar last Saturday, was withdrawn from the Keeneland November breeding stock sale on Wednesday and will remain in training in 2022.
Trainer John Sadler said on Wednesday that a decision was made earlier this week not to offer Edgeway at auction, and to pursue a 2022 campaign geared toward a return to the BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland next November.
Owned by Hronis Racing, Edgeway was beaten 2 1/2 lengths by Ce Ce in the Filly and Mare Sprint in her first start since a win in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap for fillies and mares at Del Mar in August.
“She’ll go on as a 5-year-old,” Sadler said. “We’d love to get a Grade 1 win with her.”
By the Super Saver stallion Competitive Edge, Edgeway has won 5 of 9 starts and earned $549,200.
Sadler had several other runners at Del Mar on the Breeders’ Cup cards.
Last Friday, the 2-year-old California-bred fillies Big Switch and Big Novel finished 1-2 in the $176,000 Golden State Juvenile Fillies for owner and breeder George Krikorian and Sadler. They are unlikely to face each other again soon. One could start in the $100,000 Soviet Problem Stakes for statebred fillies at a mile at Los Alamitos on Dec. 11.
Big Switch is unbeaten in two starts, having won a maiden special weight race for statebreds at Del Mar in August. She will not be running in restricted statebred races, Sadler said.
“I felt like when I worked her this summer that I could run her in open company,” Sadler said.
Big Novel could start on turf, Sadler said.
The Sadler-trained Tripoli finished seventh of eight in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last Saturday.
Tripoli won the Grade 1 Pacific Classic in August, but tailed off in the autumn. A 4-year-old, Tripoli finished fourth in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 2 in his start before the Classic.
“He didn’t run a good race,” Sadler said of Tripoli’s effort in the Classic. “He looks okay on first blush.”
“He’ll go another year.”
The Sadler-trained Flightline, who won his two starts by a combined 26 lengths this year, worked a half-mile in 47.20 seconds at Santa Anita on Monday in preparation for the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs there on Dec. 26.
“He looked like a beast,” said Sadler, who timed the colt in a slightly slower 47.60 seconds.
A $1 million purchase as a yearling, Flightline won a maiden special weight at six furlongs by 13 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita in April and an allowance race at six furlongs by 12 3/4 lengths at Del Mar on Sept. 5. In the latter race, Flightline was timed in 1:08.05 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 114, which equals the highest of the year for any horse.