Hard to Justify’s credentials easily justify her spot among the three finalists for the Eclipse Award as outstanding 2-year-old filly. Her 3-for-3 campaign, highlighted by a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, made her one of the top picks among voters.
Candied, who stretched out to become a Grade 1 winner in just her second start, is among the finalists for the Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding 2-year-old filly of 2023.
Candied, by perennial leading sire Candy Ride, was bred in Kentucky by Buck Pond Farm. She was a $165,000 purchase by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale. Prior to the Breeders’ Cup this year, Eclipse principal Aron Wellman said Sean Tugel, the partnership’s vice president for bloodstock, deserves the credit for scouting the filly out.
With a high price tag comes high expectations. Muth, who sold for a record-equaling $2 million at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. 2-year-olds in training sale in March did a pretty good job of reaching those expectations in 2023.
Muth won 2 of 4 starts, including the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes. That victory and his runner-up finish to Fierceness in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita earned Muth a spot as finalist for the Eclipse Award in the 2-year-old male division.
Little came easy for Locked in his juvenile campaign, yet he was talented enough to win a Grade 1 and finish third in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to earn a spot as a finalist for the Eclipse Award in the 2-year-old male division.
Locked, a son of Gun Runner owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm and trained by Todd Pletcher, was a $425,000 yearling purchase at the Keeneland September 2022 auction.
Brilliant on debut, a bust in the Grade 1 Champagne, Fierceness left his connections a bit baffled four weeks out from the Breeders’ Cup.
Opting to forge ahead and see what those weeks would bring, Fierceness convinced trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Mike Repole to take a shot in the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita. Pletcher and Repole were rewarded for their persistence when Fierceness galloped to a 6 1/2-length victory in the Juvenile.
A successful debut season by Pretty Mischievous in 2022 was merely the foundation to a chart-topping campaign in 2023. Pretty Mischievous won four graded stakes, more than any 3-year-old in North America, to emerge as the favorite to win the Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old filly.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Lark’s Mischief enters Sunday’s eighth race at Oaklawn Park off a quick win at the allowance’s six-furlong distance. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 99, the best last-race number in the field of 10.
The number also is higher than the local Beyer par for the two-other-than allowance level, which is a 91. Lark’s Mischief is further appealing as a son of North America’s leading general sire, Into Mischief, and a mare who placed in a pair of Grade 1 races, Miss Besilu.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Let Them Watch will try to bring in the new year in the same manner she rang out the old one, with a stakes victory, when she goes postward the likely favorite and one to catch in Sunday’s $100,000 Glitter Woman at Gulfstream Park.
The Glitter Woman lured a field of seven 3-year-old fillies to go six panels and serves as a prep for the Grade 3 Forward Gal at seven furlongs on Feb. 3.
Honor Marie, winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 25, had his first workout since shipping to Fair Grounds when he breezed three furlongs in 37.20 on Dec. 31.
Trainer Whit Beckman said several weeks ago that Honor Marie would work around the first of the year, meaning the colt has kept to his intended schedule. A natural starting point for his 3-year-old campaign would be the $400,000 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 17.
New Orleans might be the least American-feeling city in America. Perhaps it’s not mere coincidence that several overseas jockeys have come to Fair Grounds for their first extended stint in the United States. Ireland native James Graham began the North American phase of his career riding the 2003-04 meet. England-born Adam Beschizza began riding in America during the 2017-18 meet. And while France native Vincent Cheminaud only began taking mounts at Keeneland’s April meeting in 2022, he showed up in late February at Fair Grounds to start working horses.
