Sheep Pond Partners’ star filly has now won all five starts, including the
Lady Eli was buried behind horses in the Wonder Again, the field bunched as a
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As the top two sprinted away, that opened the way for Lady Eli to see
daylight. Effortlessly rattling off a sub-11 final eighth, the 123-pound
highweight swamped them while still very much in the bridle. Heath wore down
Pine Needles by a head for runner-up honors.
Heath’s trainer, Hall of Famer Bill Mott, paid Lady Eli a handsome
compliment.
“My horse ran a great race against a champion,” Mott said. “She ran well and
she did everything right, but that other filly (Lady Eli) was just too much for
us at the finish.”
Lady Eli, who negotiated 1 1/8 miles in 1:49 4/5 and returned $2.40, has
bankrolled $914,800.
“She’s a special filly,” Ortiz said. “I just tried to break out of there and
be a little closer to the pace because there was no pace in the race. I tried,
but I couldn’t get clear. I was covered up most of the way, and just when I
asked her, she picked it up. She just did it easy. She’s the kind of filly when
you ask her she takes off no matter where she is. When she got in the clear, she
took off. It was impressive.”
“There were definitely some anxious moments there,” Brown said. “It wasn’t
really the trip I was envisioning, but she worked it out and ended the weekend
on a good note. She had to overcome a lot today — stretching out in distance, a
slow pace, and she was bottled up for most of the way.
“Additionally, for her being as big as she is, being bottled up like that is
pretty challenging. But she got through, and won geared down again. It’s
exciting thinking about five weeks from now. With a slow pace like that, you’re
going to have horses bunched up at the end, but I’m happy with my horse. I feel
she won with plenty left, and she won’t have any problem getting 1 1/4 miles (in
the Belmont Oaks), especially with more pace.”
Bred by Runnymede Farm Inc. and Catesby Clay, Lady Eli is a total product of
that historic Paris, Kentucky, nursery. Her sire Divine Park and her dam, the
winning Sacre Coeur (Saint Ballado), were likewise Runnymede-breds. Lady Eli’s
half-sister, multiple Grade 3 heroine Bizzy Caroline (Afleet Alex), also sported
Clay’s silks.
Sacre Coeur is out of Runnymede’s noted matriarch Kazadancoa (Green Dancer),
who is also responsible for Grade 2 victress Changing Ways (Time for a Change)
(herself the dam of three stakes performers including Grade 2 winner Pays to
Dream [High Yield]) as well as Grade 3 scorers Jacodra (Highland Park) and
Jacodra’s Devil (Devil’s Bag).
Kazadancoa is the ancestress of millionaire Tejano Run (Tejano), runner-up in
the 1995 Kentucky Derby (G1), Group 1 hero Palace Episode (Machiavellian),
Grade/Group 2 winners More Royal (Mt. Livermore) and Laughing Lashes (Mr.
Greeley) and Canadian champion Spring in the Air (Spring at Last).
Lady Eli has sold twice at Keeneland. A $160,000 September yearling, the dark
bay brought the same price as a two-year-old in training.
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