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One Last Dance for Rushing Fall and Her e5 Family

One year after their very first Breeders’ Cup win with New Money Honey (Medaglia d’Oro) in 2016, Bob and Kristine Edwards of e5 Racing Thoroughbreds found themselves in the winner’s circle once again for the same race, with the same trainer-jockey duo, when Rushing Fall claimed the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

As it turned out it was hardly beginner’s luck, as Rushing Fall’s victory was a good omen for the family’s second Breeders’ Cup contender that year, and it proved to be just the start of an unforgettable four-year campaign for the daughter of More Than Ready.

“It was an amazing feeling,” Bob Edwards said of watching the ‘TDN Rising Star‘ cross the wire at Del Mar. “The emotions, the goosebumps, everything is really exciting. It took us 25 minutes to get through the crowd and walk down to the winner’s circle since everybody was excited for us and congratulating us. Poor Javier [Castellano] was circling and circling.”

Edwards said that after posing for the photo, trainer Chad Brown had told the family to watch the Juvenile closer to the winner’s circle the next day. It proved to be sound advice when Good Magic (Curlin), a colt they campaigned in partnership with Stonestreet Stables, became their second Breeders’ Cup winner of the weekend.

Edwards’s daughter Casi, e5’s Equine Manager, was not able to attend their first Breeders’ Cup victory with New Money Honey in 2016, but she made sure to be present for their Breeders’ Cup double the next year.

“I had never been to the Breeders’ Cup because New Money Honey ran when I was in college,” she said. “It was incredible. Everything worked out perfectly. The thrill to win two races in a row seemed unheard of and it was so much fun.”

After a five-month layoff following Rushing Fall’s undefeated juvenile season, the $320,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling returned with a vengeance at three, adding two more Grade II victories to her record before capping off the season with a win in the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. Then at four, she added two more Grade I wins in the Jenny Wiley S. followed by a near record-breaking performance in the Just a Game S., where she covered the mile in 1:31.67.

After a close second behind the prior year’s Eclipse Champion Turf Female and stablemate Sistercharlie (Ire) {Myboycharlie (Ire)} in the GI Diana S. and then running out of the money for the first time in her career in the GI First Lady S., many assumed she would be whisked off to the breeding shed the next spring.

“After the [First Lady] at Keeneland, the media came up and asked what our plan was,” Edwards recalled. “I said, ‘We’re going to run her again,’ and they were kind of like, ‘Why?’ I told them we like horse racing, and that’s why we’re in this. In the Diana, she ran arguably her best fractions and her best race ever. It takes a lot out of you to run big races and then regroup and go back again.”

Rushing Fall was brought back this year at five and is now enjoying her second undefeated season that began with a wire-to-wire victory in the GIII Beaugay S. before she returned to Grade I company.

“This season she raised the bar,” Edwards said. “We went into the second race of the season with a repeat in the Jenny Wiley where she broke the track record. And then going to Saratoga and winning the Diana was really special. There’s a lot of pressure in that. The field was stacked with really good horses. My heart was pumping out of my chest. Everything you want out of horse ownership was right in that moment.”

Rushing Fall will soon return to Keeneland, where she ranks second behind Wise Dan for the most Keeneland graded stakes wins. She will be asked to go farther than ever before in the 1 3/16-mile Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, but Edwards said he has full confidence in the $2.5 million dollar earner.

“She’s a different horse this year,” he said. “Even Javier said that and he knows better than I do. He said she’s calmer. She’s really focused. She just seems like she’s that gifted athlete where she knows where her place is, she knows the competition–she sizes them up and walks through the paddock with her ears up and nose flared a bit. It’s really special to see that out of your horse.”

Following the Breeders’ Cup, Rushing Fall will make the quick trip down the road to the Fasig-Tipton ‘Night of Stars’ sale. The 5-year-old bay will sell as Hip 205 with the Indian Creek consignment.

Fasig-Tipton’s Boyd Browning said, “She’s one of only three mares to win Grade I stakes races at two, three, four and five. She has pretty good company with Beholder and Lady Eli. It’s a rare accomplishment, and it just shows you how wonderful and brilliant Rushing Fall has been so far.”

Bred by Fred W. Hertrich III and John D. Fielding, Rushing Fall was first spotted by agent Mike Ryan at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale.

“She was a stunning yearling,” Edwards said of his purchase. “She had a real presence about her, even as a yearling. Mike loved the horse.”

“I know Mike was really excited the night that he bought her,” Browning echoed. “She’s got attitude, but it’s attitude with class.”

Before Rushing Fall returns to the Fasig-Tipton sales ring, the Edwards family will enjoy one last dance with their leading mare.

“Everyone has their own race routine,” Casi Edwards said. “Since we’ve become part of racing, my dad has gotten very superstitious. My mom has a lucky purse that she always has to find an outfit to go with the purse. Coming into race day, everyone’s always really nervous, but Rushing Fall always shows up. When she steps onto the track, you can see it in her. She’s game and she’s ready to do her job. She’s an incredible racehorse and we’re very lucky to have her in our family.”

“She’s obviously the best horse we ever had, and maybe the best horse we’ll ever have,” Bob Edwards said. “It’s tough to see her career end, but you’ve got to let her be a mom at this point. She’s won so many good races that I think I couldn’t do her justice by keeping her. I think it’s time for her to move on to a breeding operation that will set her up for the future. But these horses are an extension of your family after a while, and I think anybody that’s going to be trying to purchase her knows she’s a special horse.”

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Frey, Wong, Irvin Racing Win Golden Gate Titles

Golden Gate Fields closed out its six-week summer meet with titles going to jockey Kyle Frey, trainer Jonathan Wong, and owner Irvin Racing Stable. Frey won 47 races from 205 mounts for a 23% win rate with $803,264 in earnings. Wong, who was earning his ninth training title, had 40 winners from 159 starters (25%) and $764,062 in purse earnings. Betty and Diane Irvin, a mother-daughter team who use the nom de course of Irvin Racing Stable, brought home six wins and were in the money with 71% of their 21 starters.

Golden Gate’s fall meet, which runs 32 days, begins Thursday, Oct. 22, and runs through Sunday, Dec. 13.

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Keeneland To Limit Turf Racing to One Per Program

Officials at Keeneland have announced that they will card just one turf race for each of the final three days of the fall meet Thursday, Friday and Saturday. A total of 2 ½ inches of rain fell in Lexington Monday and Tuesday and the forecast for the next 10 days remains changeable, with additional precipitation a possibility.

On Friday and Saturday, race nine will be the afternoon’s feature and will remain on the turf, weather permitting. Thursday’s race six allowance will also stay on the grass.

All other races originally carded for the turf will be contested over the main track.

“The turf course has performed very well and without incident during the Fall Meet, and these steps are taken to ensure we have the best possible conditions for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Nov. 6-7,” Keeneland Vice President of Racing Bob Elliston said.

Here are changes to the remaining race cards:

Thursday

Race 2 will be conducted on the main track at 1 3/16 miles.

Race 9 will be conducted on the main track at 1 1/16 miles.

Friday

Race 4 will be conducted on the main track at 1 1/16 miles.

Race 7 will be conducted on the main track at 6 furlongs.

Saturday

Race 4 will be conducted on the main track at 1 1/16 miles.

Race 7 will be conducted on the main track at 6 furlongs.

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After Raising Purses, NYRA Hoping For Strong Winter Run at Aqueduct

It’s racing during the frigid winter months at a blue-collar racetrack, so Aqueduct may not always be the easiest sell. But New York Racing Association (NYRA) officials are expecting a strong five-month run once the track opens Nov. 6, counting on robust purses to convince owners and trainers to choose the Big A over options like Gulfstream and Oaklawn.

Typically, purses decrease once the fall meet at Belmont is over. Racing at Aqueduct handles less than it does at Belmont and there is a drop off in the quality. But this year, that won’t happen. Thanks to robust handle of late and the reopening of the casino at Aqueduct, NYRA was put in a position to raise purses. The higher purses went into effect Oct. 18 at Belmont, but will carry over to Aqueduct. NYRA Senior Vice President, Racing Operations Martin Panza said NYRA will dedicate about $2.5 million more to purses at Aqueduct than was the case a year earlier.

“If owners are struggling or looking to justify why they are in the game, I hope they realize that the purses are going to be pretty significant in New York this year,” Panza said. “Before we raised the purses, our claiming purses were pretty much higher than anyone else’s in the country. Now, we are going to spend an extra $2.3 to $2.5 million from Dec. 7 through the end of March. That is a lot of money and a lot of money for owners.”

While Aqueduct has always had good purses, the competition for horses in the winter has never been more fierce. With purses exploding thanks to the success of its casino, Oaklawn’s racing gets better every year. The success of Historical Horse Racing machines has helped Turfway Park improve its product. Gulfstream may not be able to compete with New York when it comes to purses, but its warm weather and abundant sunshine are powerful draws.

“With what has taken place in Arkansas and in Kentucky over the last year, year and a half, we’re going to pivot on a lot of our purses,” Panza said. “We want to be more competitive on the overnight purses or at least as competitive as those other facilities.”

Rather than raise purses across the board, Panza and his team have picked out certain categories to accentuate. The purse for a maiden special weight race has gone from $64,000 to $80,000, the pot for a $25,000 claiming race has been raised to $50,000 and a $40,000 maiden claimer will go for $43,000.

“How do you get owners to say ‘I’ve got 12 horses and instead of having all 12 at track XYZ, because of the purse levels, I’m going to send four or five to a trainer who will be running in New York in the winter?” Panza said. “That’s what we are hoping to accomplish with this.”

Field size at Aqueduct can be a problem and while that is not good for handle, Panza said it’s another reason why horsemen might want to chose New York.

“With our dirt racing, we average small fields and there is an opportunity for people to come in and take advantage of that, especially at these purse levels,” he said.

NYRA is so intent on keeping horses in New York and attracting new ones for the winter that it is about to embark on a marketing campaign to get the message out about the purses. It’s something, Panza says, that should have been done before.

“In the past, we have probably done a poor job of explaining the value of being here in the winter,” he said.

Panza is hopeful there will be a domino effect, that higher purses will lead to bigger fields which will result in a bigger handle.

“What we are doing will be an experiment to see if higher purses drive larger field size and if larger field size drives more handle,” he said. “Trainers here have asked us to take a look at this and we’re going to try it and see if it makes a difference.”

In March, there were justifiable fears that the purse levels at the NYRA tracks would eventually take a big hit. Revenues from VLT machines, which account for about 38% of the total amount of purse money, were cut off when the Aqueduct casino shut down Mar. 16 due to the coronavirus. Three days later, racing was halted in New York.

Once Belmont resumed racing in June, the handle numbers have been impressive. They were up during the spring meet at Belmont and were, essentially, even during Saratoga, even though there was almost no on-track wagering. During the first 17 days of the Belmont fall meet, handle has averaged over $10 million a day, a 27% increase over 2019 numbers.

Panza believes that the handle has been impacted by the extensive coverage NYRA now receives from the FOX Sports networks.

“A lot of what is happening here has to do with our TV strategy,” he said. “People are staying at home, working from home. Getting on FOX and having our signal out there allows us to reach a lot of people. We’re not on TVG, like we used to be, for five minutes every hour. We are on FOX and talking about our races for four, five, six hours a day and that has paid tremendous dividends. It’s no longer a case where they go to Belmont for a race when they are loading in the gate and then the race is over and they go to another track before you even know what the running order was. Because of FOX, we are able to give a much better presentation of our product.”

Panza said that if the handle numbers continue to go up, there may be another purse increase come the spring. For now, though, he is focused on Aqueduct.

“There is going to be a great opportunity for people to race for a lot of money here this winter,” he said. “The message we want to get out is that we have made a serious commitment to winter racing.”

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