Eclipse Sends Out 6 Fillies this Weekend from the Gulf to the Great Race Place
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners has a busy weekend ahead. On Friday, Mythic, a winner at Gulfstream Park on December 26, will reappear in a starter allowance over the same surface. Trained by Wayne Catalano, Mythic, a three-year-old daughter of Tale of the Cat, will once again have Corey Lanerie on her back. She runs in the first race at 12:40 PM EST going six furlongs on the dirt and is the 5/2 morning line choice.
Silsita, a rallying second in the $125,000 Florida Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Preview Stakes at Gulfstream Park in November, will be a major player in the $150,000 Florida Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Stakes on Saturday. A two time stakes winner for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Silsita, a daughter of Macho Uno, will be saddled by Todd Pletcher and ridden by Javier Castellano, a finalist in the jockey category for the 2013 Eclipse Awards to be handed out Saturday night. Silsita’s race is the sixth going off at 3:05 PM EST.
Charlie Em, a hard-knocking Grade 111 stakes winner for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, will run on Saturday in the $75,000 Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita. Charlie Em, a four-year-old daughter of Kheleyf, will be competing in her seventh straight stakes race since winning the Senorita Stakes – G3 in her United States debut last May. The Megahertz S. going one mile on the grass, goes off as the fifth race at 2:30 PM PST.
On Saturday, both Bee Brave and Practising will be making their stateside debuts at Santa Anita. Bee Brave, a four-year-old daughter of Rail Link (GB) and a winner in her racing debut in England August 2012, is now in the barn of Simon Callaghan. She runs in the seventh race with Rafael Bejarano riding at 3:30 PM PST. Bee Brave has been training well over the Santa Anita track and we are anxious to see her perform.
Practising, a three-year-old daughter of Rail Link (GB), will run one hour later in the ninth race at Santa Anita. She had two seconds in England last summer before Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners purchased her and brought her to California. Now trained by Paddy Gallagher, Practising will compete in a maiden special weight event going one mile on the grass also with Rafael Bejarano on her back.
Reflected Love, a three-year-old daughter of Mujadil, is scheduled to make her stateside debut on Sunday in an allowance race at Santa Anita. Reflected Love broke her maiden at the prestigious Epsom meet last July before being purchased by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. Reflected Love has been training steadily for Simon Callaghan at Santa Anita. Entries will be taken on Thursday for this six and one-half allowance test on the grass.
“We’ve got an exciting few days to look forward to,” Eclipse President, Aron Wellman remarked. “This is some pretty serious action from coast to coast, which is what we want to provide for our partners. It’s a real mixed bag of prospects, too, which really sums up our stable. These 6 runners all happen to be fillies, some of which were acquired as yearlings and some private buys both domestically and abroad. We’ve got legit opportunities to win a couple of Stakes races and the other Allowance fillies are all well-intentioned. It’ll take a lot of good fortune to execute out there on the playing field, but we’re going into the weekend with a quiet confidence in all of our runners and we hope to perform when it matters most.”