Seven Eclipse winners expected back for 2025 campaigns
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Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna is one of seven 2024 Eclipse Award winners expected to run in 2025.
Sierra Leone, champion 3-year-old male, has had three workouts this winter at Payson Park and is being considered for the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 22.
Last Sunday, Sierra Leone worked a half-mile in 49.40 seconds. He is scheduled to work again this Sunday.
“His last work was a big jump forward, he worked really strongly, he got a lot out of it,” trainer Chad Brown said. “We’ll know more in the next couple of weeks if he’s going to make that race.”
Soul of an Angel, the champion female sprinter, is being strongly considered for the $20 million Saudi Cup as well. Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said he has been told the horse will be invited but will get confirmation over the weekend.
“They said she’s most likely invited and they’re going to confirm it after this weekend, and if she is, all being well, she’ll go there,” Joseph said. “If she doesn’t go there, she’ll go to the Madison.”
The Grade 1, $650,000 Madison, at seven furlongs, is April 5 at Keeneland.
Straight No Chaser, the champion male sprinter, is being pointed to the Riyadh Dirt Sprint on Feb. 22 and then the Golden Shaheen in Dubai on April 5, trainer Dan Blacker said.
Straight No Chaser was the first champion for Blacker, who trains Straight No Chaser for MyRacehorse.
“It means a lot to us, me, and my team, and my family, I feel very grateful to MyRacehorse to have the opportunity to train such a talented horse and to manage him,” Blacker said. “The talent is what comes first, I’m just grateful to them to give me a shot like this.”
Citizen Bull, the 2-year-old male trained by Bob Baffert, is scheduled to make his 3-year-old debut in the Robert Lewis at Santa Anita on Feb. 1.
Immersive, the champion 2-year-old filly, is sidelined due to bone bruising, but Michael Banahan, director of bloodstock for Godolphin, said she is expected to return for the second half of the year.
Banahan said that Rebel’s Romance, the champion male turf horse and winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf, will run again in this year with a likely start in Dubai in April preceded by a race in Saudi or elsewhere. Last year, Rebel’s Romance made his seasonal debut in February in Qatar.
In addition to the U.S., he won Group 1 races in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Germany. His lone defeat came when he finished third in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.
“It’s incredible, he obviously loves traveling, he’s a world-class racehorse and he’s a gelding,” Banahan said. “Hong Kong, America, England, Dubai, wherever it is he turns up he runs every time.”
Rebel’s Romance, despite racing just once in North America, won the Eclipse by eight votes, 89 to 81, over Johannes, a winner of five graded stakes in North America.
“You’re heavily favored if you win the Breeders’ Cup,” Banahan said.
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