Warming Keeps Eclipse Hot With Gallorette (G3) Win On Preakness Day
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners continued its graded stakes momentum on one of racing’s biggest weekends Saturday, May 16th when Warming unleashed an explosive stretch rally to capture the $150,000 Gallorette Stakes (G3) at Laurel Park.
Under John Velazquez, the 4-year-old daughter of Global Campaign left little doubt who was best once the real running began, surging powerfully through the lane to win by a length while stopping the clock in 1:41.10 for 1 1/16 miles over the firm turf course.
The victory marked Eclipse’s fifth graded stakes triumph of 2026 and continued an exceptional run for #EclipseFillies, who have now accounted for three graded stakes wins on major race days at major racetracks over the last four weeks alone.
For Warming, the Gallorette represented the fourth victory of her career from just 11 starts and pushed her earnings to $326,450. It also marked her second graded stakes victory since returning to the turf. In her previous grass start, Warming captured last fall’s Autumn Miss Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita — giving her consecutive graded stakes wins on the lawn.
Acquired for $100,000 by the Eclipse team at the 2024 OBS March Sale, Warming has already proven to be a tremendously rewarding acquisition, developing into a multiple graded stakes winner while earning more than three times her purchase price to this point.
Trained by Graham Motion, Warming had been signaling her readiness in the mornings leading up to the race, and her return to the turf proved to be exactly what she needed after trying graded stakes company on dirt followed by a pair of starts over different synthetic surfaces.
“Graham Motion has done a masterful job along with his team. Warming had been tipping her hand in her morning activity the past month and boy did she run to her training,” said Eclipse founder and president Aron Wellman. “She has been a tricky filly to manage since her Grade 3 win in California last October, but her return to the turf today was most welcomed and she rewarded herself and all of us with an awesome win on one of the biggest days of the year.”
Motion echoed those sentiments afterward while reflecting on the filly’s long-standing talent and the patience required to bring out her best.
“She was my best 2-year-old (in 2024) but had a lot of issues going around,” Motion said. “We always thought she was this kind of filly, and I think finally, we saw her today.”
Velazquez’s winning ride carried a layer of Eclipse history attached to it. Fourteen years earlier on Preakness weekend, the Hall of Fame jockey piloted In Lingerie to victory in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes — one of the earliest marquee victories in Eclipse history.
“Johnny put Eclipse on the map 14 years ago on Preakness weekend when he willed In Lingerie to score in the Black-Eyed Susan,” added Wellman. “His move to get the position he needed at the head of the stretch today was a difference maker.”
“Today she got to relax off the pace,” Velazquez said. “She relaxed really well and she finished well. I was going to make one move with her no matter what. I waited until the quarter pole and someone came up on my outside and I said, ‘It’s time to go,’ and she responded. It’s nice when they do what you want them to do and she responded really well.”
Now back in top form on the grass, Warming appears poised to continue adding to an already accomplished résumé as the summer stakes season begins to heat up.