La Verdad crowned Eclipse champion female sprinter

[1]By Sarah Mace

Lady Sheila Stable’s star sprinter La Verdad (Yes It’s True) was crowned champion female sprinter Saturday night when the Eclipse Award winners for the 2015 racing season were announced at a ceremonial dinner at Gulfstream Park.

La Verdad opened up her account in 2015 by repeating in the Grade 2 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct in April, winning Belmont’s Grade 3 Vagrancy Handicap in May and repeating in the Dancin Renee Stakes for state-breds at Belmont in June. First across the line in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap at Saratoga Race Course, she was later disqualified following a positive test for clenbuterol.

After winning the Grade 2 the Gallant Bloom over Wavell Avenue in September at Belmont, she was a facile winner of the Iroquois Stakes against state-breds on Empire Showcase Day in October, where a rating experiment convinced conditioner Linda Rice that the seven-furlong TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, just a week away, was within the mare’s reach. And it almost was. La Verdad and regular rider Jose Ortiz finished a strong second to 10-1 Wavell Avenue after setting the pace.

Despite her second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup, La Verdad’s body of work for the season tipped scale in her favor with voters in the most closely contested category of the year. Of the three finalists, La Verdad beat Wavell Avenue by eight votes, 98-90, with Lady Shipman third with 41.

Onstage to accept the award were owner Sheila Rosenblum and trainer Linda Rice.

Said Rosenblum, “La Verdad has made a dream come true. Thank you to the voters who voted for her, thank you for my trainer who made this happen, who begged me to buy her. We have a passion, we love horses. We respect horses, we’ve made a great team, we’ve made syndicates happen for women. And I have a spectacular group of women over there who are my partners and friends. I love this mare. She is a love story. She is one of a kind. She’s pretty miraculous.”

Rice said, “It’s our first trip to the Eclipse Awards and it’s nice to come away with a win. Most of all I want to thank La Verdad. Everyone should have a horse like her.”

Bred by Eklektikos Stable LLC and foaled at Chester and Mary Broman’s Chestertown farm in Chestertown. La Verdad was purchased privately by Rosenblum following her second allowance victory in November 2013. After winning the Interborough Stakes on January 9, La Verdad is scheduled for a final start in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie on February 13 at Laurel before being bred to Medaglia d’Oro.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2016/01/17/la-verdad-crowned-eclipse-champion-female-sprinter/

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