Champagne d’Oro tabbed for Honorable Miss; Ballerina
possible
Dual Grade 1 heroine CHAMPAGNE D’ORO (Medaglia d’Oro), emphatic winner of
last year’s Test S. (G1), has returned to the Spa in preparation for a start in
the Honorable Miss H. (G2) on August 7 and possibly the Ballerina S. (G1) on
Travers Day, August 27.
The four-year-old filly has raced just once this year, finishing fifth in the
Princess Rooney H. (G1) at Calder on July 9. Her primary goal is the November 4
Breeders’ Cup & Filly Mare Sprint (G1), in which she was fourth last year. The
bay lass made two starts after last year’s Breeders’ Cup — a sixth in the La
Brea S. (G1) and a fourth in the El Encino S. (G2) — before she was given a
breather.
“She was good enough last year, but by the time she had won the Test and gone
back to California she was a tired horse,” trainer Eric Guillot explained. “We
freshened her up and gave her four months off, and ran her at Calder in a Grade
1. She needed the race.”
In the Princess Rooney, Champagne d’Oro stalked the pace, loomed in
midstretch and flattened out late.
“She broke the bias,” Guillot said. “The track was drying out that day and
the speed backed up. The horses that were 1-2-3 in front of her finished
seventh, ninth, and 10th. She punched through at the eighth-pole and looked like
she was going to win, but she came up a little short. That race under her belt
is going to make all the difference in the world.”
If Champagne d’Oro runs well in the six-furlong Honorable Miss, the filly
could return in the seven-furlong Ballerina three weeks later, which Guillot
admits would be a quick turnaround.
“And that’s what I’m going to determine, depending on how she comes back, how
she runs, and who’s going in the Ballerina,” Guillot added. “It’s a Grade 1
right out of her stall on a track she likes — you almost have to take a shot.”