Nest to return next year for 4-year-old season
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While Nest still has one more major objective for this year, the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Nov. 5, part-owner Mike Repole confirmed Sunday that the likely 3-year-old champion filly will return for a 4-year-old campaign in 2022.
“We’re not even going to put people on edge,” Repole said Sunday after Nest’s devastatingly easy 5 3/4-length victory in the Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame at Aqueduct. “She’s racing at 4. She’s so special. She’s a Curlin [progeny]. This is now three [straight] wow performances. She’s just getting better and better every start.”
Nest’s convincing victory in the Beldame, for which she earned a 101 Beyer Speed Figure, followed dominant victories in the Alabama (by 4 1/4 lengths) and Coaching Club American Oaks (by 12 1/4 lengths) during the summer at Saratoga. She also won the Grade 1 Ashland by 8 1/4 lengths at Keeneland in April. Overall, Nest is 5 for 7 in 2022 and 7 for 10 lifetime, with second-place finishes in the Kentucky Oaks and Belmont Stakes.
Nest, is owned by Repole, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House. Nest was expected to van to Keeneland midweek to join trainer Todd Pletcher’s Breeders’ Cup string, which includes Malathaat, winner of Sunday’s Grade 1 Spinster and a top contender for the Distaff.
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