HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The fact that Soul of an Angel sold for $2.6 million on Tuesday didn’t surprise her trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr., although he said the reality of having a champion leave the barn in such a sudden manner never really began to sink in until he started making shipping arrangements for her the following morning.
Joseph will be sending Soul of an Angel, the reigning Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner and Eclipse Award champion, to Brookdale Farm in Kentucky at the end of the week. She will stay there while her new ownership group hashes out options for the filly, one of which could be to keep her in training in the United States and possibly send her back to Del Mar to defend her Breeders’ Cup title.
“We’re still unsure what to do with her, so she’ll do a little spell at Brookdale while we have a few more discussions with the boss and weigh the options,” said Paul Curran, the European representative for Yulong Investments. “Obviously with her Breeders’ Cup win, she has very good residual value as a broodmare, either in Australia or here in the U.S.
“We’re considering every avenue. One idea we’d be open to is returning her to Mr. Joseph, who had a great deal of success with her in such a short period of time, to continue racing this season.”
Soul of an Angel indeed had a remarkable run after being purchased by C2 Racing Stable and turned over to Joseph last spring. She won the Grade 2 Ruffian at Aqueduct right off the bat in May; finished second in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher in July, beaten just a head by 2023 BC Distaff champion Idiomatic; and finished third in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at 1 1/8 miles in August.
That’s when Joseph made the career-altering decision to turn her back to seven furlongs for the Grade 3 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream Park.
“It took a while to figure her out, but the cutback for the Princess Rooney was key,” Joseph recalled. “Although about halfway through the race, when she was so far back, I thought it was a bad decision. But she won that day while not being what I felt was 100 percent her best mentally, which gave me a lot of confidence going into the Breeders’ Cup.”
Soul of an Angel rallied from last, a dozen lengths off the lead, to upset the Filly and Mare Sprint. After plans to potentially run her in the $20 million Saudi Cup fell through last month, Joseph backed off Soul of an Angel, who returned to the track to gallop for the first time here Tuesday with the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland the goal prior to her sale.
“She is one of the top sprinters in the country and obviously will be hard to replace. But I’m grateful to the owners for having given us the opportunity to work with her,” Joseph said. “She was my first Breeders’ Cup winner and Eclipse champion and will always be, so she’s a horse that will obviously always mean a lot to me.”
Epitaph overdue for a win
The graded stakes-placed Epitaph and stakes winner Most Handsome are among the nine 3-year-olds entered in Friday’s $96,000 main event to be decided under optional-claiming and allowance conditions going five furlongs over the Tapeta course.
Epitaph is winless since his debut maiden score last summer over the turf at Saratoga. The first of his five subsequent losses was a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Futurity at Aqueduct for which he received what is still a career-best 74 Beyer Speed Figure. Epitaph tried the synthetic surface here for the first time last month, finishing a game second, 1 1/2 lengths behind Dumb Money, after contesting the pace from the outset.
Most Handsome also was victorious in his career bow in August. He followed that effort with a game performance of his own when holding on for a popular head victory in the Hollywood Beach Stakes. Both those wins came on the Tapeta strip.
Most Handsome has been freshened by trainer Ron Spatz and will be making his first start since finishing a tiring and distant fifth over the main track in the Juvenile Sprint on Nov. 23. He is entered with a $75,000 claiming tag on Friday.
Dumb Money benefited from a contested pace to defeat Epitaph and five others under similar conditions in their previous encounter and is likely to get a similar setup in the rematch. There is plenty of other speed signed on, including New York New York, Boundfortrouble, and Makeit to Cheyenne.
New York New York dueled from start to finish while registering a well-deserved half-length victory in his only start, which came for Brad Cox. He returns Friday for trainer Nolan Ramsey.
Boundfortrouble has been gelded since finishing second in a similarly conditioned optional-claiming and allowance race in his 3-year-old debut, while Makeit to Cheyenne, also a first-time gelding, has been idle since making every call a winning one earning his diploma in impressive fashion last summer at Monmouth Park.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.