A year after sending New Money Honey out to win the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Bob Edwards’ e Five Racing returned with undefeated Rushing Fall and took down the mile event at Del Mar. Both contenders were trained by Chad Brown and ridden to victory by Javier Castellano.
A year after sending New Money Honey out to win the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Bob Edwards’ e Five Racing returned with undefeated Rushing Fall and took down the mile event at Del Mar. Both contenders were trained by Chad Brown and ridden to victory by Javier Castellano.
Rushing Fall, who came off a victory in the Oct. 10 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland after breaking her maiden at first asking Sept. 16 at Belmont Park, broke well from post 11 and tracked the pace set by Moon Dash, who went a quarter in :23.04, and Juliet Capulet, who took over to run a :47.23 half. Rushing Fall rallied six wide into the stretch and took command, running seven-eighths in 1:24.09 en route to a final time of 1:36.09 on turf rated firm.
"Chad was really confident in this filly back when she was at Stonestreet (training center)," Edwards said. "He said, 'Look, if you give her to me, I'll take you to the Breeders' Cup,' and this was seven months ago. He delivered."
Edwards gave credit to agent Mike Ryan, who selected Rushing Fall from Taylor Made Sales Agency's consignment to the Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga 2016 select yearling sale, where she was purchased for $320,000. She was bred in Kentucky by Fred W. Hertrich III & John D. Fielding out of the Foresty mare Autumnal.
"It's the combination, once again. It's Mike Ryan, it's Chad, it's Javier," Edwards said. "I talk to the guys regularly, and they guide me and help me through the industry. Owners here, there's a lot of great people in the business that kind of help you. And as you guys know, it's a big social club. We all want to win, but at the end of the day, we're all friendly. This is a really great sport, and we all love it."
Rushing Fall defeated Best Performance by three-quarters of a length. The Christophe Clement trainee wound up in the runner-up spot for a fifth straight race. It was a length back to Aidan O'Brien-trained September, who completed the trifecta. Happily, the 2-1 favorite for O'Brien in a 14-horse field, was steadied in tight multiple times and weakened to finish last. - Claire Novak-Crosby