Second-year owner Edwards back at Breeders' Cup with another top contender

ARCADIA, Calif. – In his first year as a racehorse owner, Bob Edwards won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita with New Money Honey in 2016.

This season, Edwards and trainer Chad Brown are back in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar on Friday with leading contender Rushing Fall.

In a way, Edwards sort of expected to be there. Earlier this week, Edwards recalled that Brown took a liking to Rushing Fall last winter, while inspecting the owner’s 2-year-old prospects on a Florida farm.

“When we picked trainers for our horses, he knew my roster already,” Edwards said. “He told me in advance, ‘What about the More than Ready filly? Give her to me. I’ll take her to the Breeders’ Cup.’”

Brown’s enthusiasm was fine with Edwards.

“He won the Breeders’ Cup for me already,” he said.

Rushing Fall is expected to be favored in the Juvenile Fillies Turf on the basis of an undefeated record after two starts. She won her debut in a maiden race on turf at Belmont Park on Sept. 16, and then scored an emphatic victory in the Grade 3 Jessamine Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Keeneland on Oct. 11.

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Rushing Fall closed from 12th in a field of 14 to win by 3 1/4 lengths as an odds-on favorite.

“She keeps getting better,” Edwards said. “She is a turf rocket. She hits that second gear.”

Rushing Fall is expected to be part of a full field of 14 in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. With her come-from-behind style, Edwards knows there may be a few anxious moments in the final three furlongs of the BC Juvenile Fillies.

“You need a lot of racing luck,” Edwards said. “Those are good horses.”

Edwards, 49, is the owner of e5 Pharma, a pharmaceutical company in Boca Raton, Fla., and races as e Five Racing Thoroughbreds. Edwards had his first runners in 2016 and showed from the start that he was not afraid to spend at the sales.

New Money Honey was purchased for $450,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September yearling sale. Rushing Fall was bought for $320,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale.

Edwards’s stable also includes Local Hero, who was third in the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds in March.

Local Hero, a $500,000 purchase at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Florida March sale of 2-year-olds in training, is now with Brown and based in Saratoga. The colt was previously trained by Steve Asmussen and has not raced since finishing seventh in the Easy Goer Stakes at Belmont Park in June.

“We want to run him in Florida” this winter, Edwards said. “He looks really good. He had some bad racing luck. We’re hoping to reboot.”

New Money Honey has had a fine 2017 as a 3-year-old, winning the Grade 3 Wonder Again Stakes at Belmont Park in June and the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks in July. She will not start in a Breeders’ Cup race this year.

In 2016, Edwards won four races from 23 starts. This year, as a sole entity, Edwards had 14 wins with 55 starts through Thursday.

Edwards is a partner with Stonestreet Stables on Good Magic, who is scheduled to start in Saturday’s BC Juvenile. Good Magic is a maiden after two starts, including a second by a half-length in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 7.

Rushing Fall will be the first runner of the Breeders’ Cup weekend for a team very familiar to Edwards. Jockey Javier Castellano, who rode New Money Honey last year, has the mount.

“Chad and Javier have won me a Breeders’ Cup before,” Edwards said. “I’m excited about it. Then we’ve got Good Magic with Stonestreet.

“However it plays out, we have two runners in our second year of racing.”

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