Eight Belles winner gets new majority owner

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Eight Belles Stakes winner Victoria’s Wildcat has a new majority owner. Andrew Rosen privately purchased a controlling interest in Victoria’s Wildcat, a 3-year-old daughter ofBellamy Road, just days before she is scheduled to start in Belmont’s Acorn Stakes, her first Grade 1 race. Bloodstock agents John Stuart and Chris Brothers brokered the deal, but did not disclose Rosen’s exact percentage.

Victoria’s Wildcat previously has raced for partners Victoria and Bob Bayer and Jonathan Metcalf, who retain a minority stake now. The filly will remain in training with Bob Hess Jr. Rosen was one of the original shareholders in Victoria’s Wildcat’s sire, Bellamy Road.

“Andrew’s father, Carl Rosen, won the 1974 Acorn with Hall of Famer Chris Evert, so it’s a Rosen tradition that we hope to continue Saturday ay Belmont,” trainer Bob Hess, Jr., said. Victoria’s Wildcat made her first attempt in stakes company in the Eight Belles, winning the Grade 3 event by 2 1/4 lengths from Home Sweet Aspen.

Bred in Kentucky by Marvin Little. Jr., Victoria’s Wildcat is out of the unraced Woodman mare Flaming Mirage and is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Kinsale King and to stakes-placed Ballado Chieftan.