Illuminant likely headed to Beverly D. at Arlington

ARCADIA, Calif.- Illuminant, the winner of the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita on May 30, is likely to make her next start in the $700,000 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park on Aug. 13.

Aron Wellman, the president of the Eclipse Thoroughbred partnership that owns Illuminant, said on Sunday that the Grade 1 Beverly D. is preferred over the $200,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Del Mar on July 16.

“That’s the direction we’re pointing to,” he said. “We’ve ruled out the Yellow Ribbon at this point. The Beverly D. seems like the right thing.”

The Beverly D. Stakes is run at 1 3/16 miles and is one of the leading turf races in the nation for fillies and mares each year.

Trained by Michael McCarthy, Illuminant, a 4-year-old filly by Quality Road, has won 4 of 11 starts and $367,650. The Gamely Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf was Illuminant’s first stakes win. She was third in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland in April behind Tepin, who returned to beat males in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.