Eclipse Tries to Fly with Feathered in Grade 1, $2 Million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies
The attention of the Thoroughbred horse racing world will be focused on Santa Anita Park this Friday and Saturday as the 31st Breeders’ Cup Championship races will take place. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners is honored to have the baby blue and black silks represented in the $2,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (Grade I) by Feathered, a daughter of Indian Charlie. Feathered, purchased at the Ocala Breeders’ Two-Year-Old in Training Sale in March, has a win, second and third in her three lifetime starts. Joining Todd Pletcher’s stable in May in New York, Feathered made her debut at Saratoga on August 3.
Racing greenly but gamely, after coming five wide into the stretch, Feathered just missed on the wire finishing second. She came back at Saratoga on August 31 and put forth a smashing performance winning by nine and three-quarter lengths. Feathered then made her stakes debut in the $500,000 Frizette Stakes (Grade I) at Belmont Park on October 4. In a race run over a sloppy track, Feathered, fourth early on, dropped back to fifth after three-quarters of a mile before re-rallying in the stretch to finish third in this one mile fixture.
The effort and ability Feathered exhibited in this stakes showed she belongs in the starting gate with the best two-year-old fillies in the nation. Javier Castellano, on top of the earnings leader board for jockeys in 2014, has ridden Feathered in all her starts and will be on her back Saturday. The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (Grade I) will be run as the fourth race at 12:05 PST.
Patrioticandproud will run Friday in the $200,000 Las Vegas Marathon Stakes (Grade II) at Santa Anita. This five-year-old son of Proud Citizen has been a hardy campaigner for ETP having made 24 lifetime starts since making his racing debut in August of 2011 at Saratoga being the first to wear the Eclipse silks. Patrioticandproud has shown versatility over the years covering distances ranging from five and one-half furlongs to a mile and one-half over dirt, synthetic and turf. The distance of the Las Vegas Marathon (Grade II) is one and three-quarter miles. He has competed in ten stakes races winning the Toronto Cup Stakes at Woodbine and finishing second in the Autumn Stakes (Gade II) and Victoria Park Stakes also at Woodbine. He has earned $378,605 during his career. Trained throughout his career by Mark Casse, Patrioticandproud will be ridden on Friday by Martin Pedroza. Going as the second race, the Las Vegas Marathon (Gade II) will go off at 12:00 PST.
Judy in Disguise (GB) will represent ETP in the $100,000 Senator Ken Maddy Stakes (Grade II) at Santa Anita on Saturday. A four-year-old daughter of Elusive City, this filly will be making her 2014 debut. Judy in Disguise, trained by Simon Callaghan, was purchased by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners in the summer of 2012 having won two of four starts in Great Britain. She first appeared in the Eclipse baby blue and black silks winning an Allowance race in February 2013 and then came back two weeks later winning the Sweet Life Stakes at Santa Anita. Judy in Disguise has run in nine stakes during her fifteen race career garnering seconds in the Playa Del Rey Stakes (Hollywood Park) and Manhattan Stakes (Gade II) (Santa Anita) and thirds in the Beaumont Stakes (Gade II) (Keeneland) and San Clemente Handicap (Gade II) (Del Mar). Judy in Disguise will be ridden by Martin Garcia on Saturday and the Senator Ken Maddy Stakes (Gade III) will be run as the third race at 11:25 PST.