Belmont at Big A: Eternal Hope rallies, wins Jockey Club Oaks
Godolphin’s Ireland homebred Eternal Hope,patiently handled by Jamie Spencer, arrived in the final jumps to captureSaturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational, a 1 3/8-mile, inner-turftest for sophomore fillies at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet.
Trainedby Charlie Appleby, the Teofilo chestnut rallied wide from last of seven as theeven-money favorite to post a neck score over 14-1 long shot Neecie Marie, whohad dived to the rail with an impressive inside rush under Abner Adorno.
“Shestruggled a lot from the three-eighths to the straight. Once it straightenedup, she was able to get balanced, then she surged up,” Spencer said. “It’s adifficult track, and there’s not a track in Europe as tight as this. It’sreally fast ground, so it’s a speed test. I think you can up her performancebased on what happened today.”
EternalHope was off slow and settled at the back of the pack as the JuniorAlvarado-piloted Stephanie’s Charm, the longest shot on the board at 52-1,opened an ambitious, 12-length lead through splits of 24.12 and 47.52 seconds overthe firm footing with Quarrel tracking from second position.
Quarreltook over from a tiring Stephanie’s Charm late in the final turn. HighlandGrace launched her bid from third, and Neecie Marie and Eternal Hope got intogear from the rear of the field.
Spencer guided Eternal Hope to the outsidethrough the turn and had clear sailing traveling six wide for the stretch drive.Abner Adorno took a ground-saving path with Neecie Marie, surging to the insideof the fading Quarrel.
Thetwo foes dueled from the sixteenth pole to the wire, but there was no denyingEternal Hope, who gained ground with every stride and secured the narrow win witha final time of 2:16.47. It was one length back to the closing Speirling Beagin third with Highland Grace, Quarrel, Stephanie’s Charm and Last Call roundingout the order of finish.
Spencersaid he changed plans from a close, stalking trip after breaking a step slow.
“Shewas good in the gate, but when the attendant came in with the number 7 (SpeirlingBeag) and stood beside her, she was looking at him rather than when the gatesopened and missed a beat,” Spencer said. “The pace was fine, and I was alwayskind of only two or three lengths off the ones I wanted to be close to anyways,so it worked out good.”
Adornosaid Neecie Marie fought gamely to the finish.
“Shewent inside, and there wasn’t anything else I could have done. She just kept ongoing, and she got beat by a very nice horse,” Adorno said. “I got my spot onthe rail, and I knew she was running, but I knew someone else was coming withher. It is what it is.”
InEngland,Eternal Hope captured the 1 1/2-mile Oaks Trial over the Lingfieldsynthetic in May ahead of a distant seventh in the Epsom Oaks (G1) in June. Shearrived from a strong, third-place finish in the 1 1/4-mile Prix Alec Head (G2)over soft going on Aug. 20 at Deauville, finishing 1 1/2 lengths in back of thevictorious Group 1 winner Jannah Rose. The runner-up of that event Lumiere Rockcame back to win the Blandford (G2) on Sunday at the Curragh.
EternalHope’s victory was bookended within minutes by a pair of Grade 1 efforts fromAppleby-trained Godolphin homebreds at Woodbine, where Dazzling Star was atroubled third in the Natalma followed by a dominant score from Master Of TheSeas in the Woodbine Mile.
“Veryhappy to get the win on the board,” said Chris Connett, traveling assistant forAppleby. “Jamie came back and said the ground is a bit on the quick side forher, so it was nice that she was able to put forth a performance on groundthat’s probably not ideal for her.
“Ideally,we’d be in the box seat right off the pace and start making a run a littleearlier. But she was a bit tardy and Jamie lost a bit of ground going wide, buthe needed to get her rolling, because it’s quite sharp around here. When shestraightened up and leveled out, she ran to the line so that was good.”
MichaelMilam’s Pennsylvania-bred Neecie Marie, trained by Butch Reid, entered from arallying 2 1/4-length score in the Pennsylvania-bred Mrs. Penny on Aug. 21 atParx. She is out of the Ontario-bred Posse mare Lode Lady, who is a half-sisterto 2022 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike and Grade 2-winning turfer Llanarmon.
“Sheproved that she belonged at this level. It’s big,” Reid said. “It was a littleshorter field, and she was able to save ground on all three turns. Abner did afantastic job. It was just a question of a mile-and-three-eighths, but I don’tthink there’s any limit to how far she can go. She really gave us a thrillthere for a little while.”
TheJockey Club Oaks was the final leg of the Fillies Turf Triple series, whichbegan with Aspen Grove’s victory in the 1 1/4-mile Belmont Oaks Invitational(G1) on July 8 at Belmont Park and saw Elusive Princess capture the middle legin the 1 3/16-mile Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G1) on Aug. 4 at Saratoga.
EternalHope, who returned $4.00 for a $2 win bet, is out of the Dubawi mare Voice ofTruth, who is a half-sister to multiple group winner and sire Rio de La Plata.She banked $192,500 in the victory while improving her record to 6: 3-0-2.
