Rushing Fall runs in Beaugay as mare on a mission

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though Rushing Fall certainly has a résumé that would make her extremely valuable as a broodmare, owner Bob Edwards said it was a simple decision to bring the four-time Grade 1-winning mare back for a 5-year-old campaign.

“Because horse racing’s fun,” Edwards said Thursday from Florida. “Had I known we were going to have a pandemic it might have been a different story, but I love racing. That’s why we kept her.”

The coronavirus pandemic has delayed Rushing Fall’s 5-year-old debut. It will now come in Wednesday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Beaugay Stakes, the opening-day feature of Belmont Park’s reduced 25-day meet.

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On Thursday, Rushing Fall worked a half-mile in 50.43 seconds over the Belmont Park turf course, breezing in company with Fifty Five, the multiple New York-bred stakes winner who also will target the Beaugay.

Rushing Fall, a daughter of More Than Ready, has won Grade 1 races at 2, 3, and 4. Last year, Rushing Fall won the Just a Game and Jenny Wiley – both Grade 1’s – before finishing second to stablemate Sistercharlie in the Grade 1 Diana. She ended her year with a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland.

Chad Brown, Rushing Fall’s trainer, said the possibility of winning a Grade 1 stakes for four consecutive years with her is intriguing. Brown believes the only other filly he’s trained to do that was Lady Eli (2014-17).

“She’s very valuable as a broodmare, but having the opportunity to potentially put herself in really rare company of winning Grade 1’s in four straight years is very hard to do,” Brown said. “I think that played into it some. Although [Edwards] is a breeder as well, he’s a real sportsman and he loves to see his horses run, and she clearly is one of the best horses he’s had.”

The disappointment for Edwards is that he won’t be able to see Rushing Fall’s race in person because owners and spectators will not be permitted at Belmont for the foreseeable future.

“I enjoy being at the track,” Edwards said. “I’m disappointed we can’t be there.”

Entries for the Beaugay were to be taken Friday. In addition to the Brown duo, others expected to run include Got Stormy, Call Me Love, Feel Glorious, Passing Out, and possibly Mitchell Road, Noor Sahara and Xenobia.