Eclipse Filly Pair Brings Grade I Quality to Fasig-Tipton

[Wandering Eyes]

For Aron Wellman and the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners team, the next few days promise plenty of excitement and maybe a few sleepless nights. Their three-time Grade I winner Journalism (Curlin), whom they co-own, is poised for a bid in the Breeders' Cup Classic, but once the dust settles at Del Mar on Saturday, their focus will quickly turn to Lexington, where a lineup of star Eclipse fillies will go through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

Eclipse has made a habit of turning top-class racemares into headline-makers in the Fasig-Tipton sales ring. Three-time Grade I winner Curalina (Curlin) brought $3 million in 2016 and the following year fellow Grade I victress Illuminant (Quality Road) sold for $1.1 million. Valiance (Tapit) continued the trend in 2021 with a $3 million sale, and in 2023, champion Nest (Curlin) stole the show when she brought $6 million.

Eclipse fillies continue to shine beyond the racetrack. Graded stakes winner Feathered (Indian Charlie), who sold to Summer Wind Farm after her retirement, produced Horse of the Year Flightline.

 

 

“One of the really amazing things about Eclipse Thoroughbreds is the success that they've had racing fillies and then selling fillies that go on to becoming prominent producers,” said Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning. “They buy a really top-quality horse with pedigree. They have top trainers involved in racing their horses and they continue to win and perform at the highest level.”

This year, the partnership will send a pair of Grade I winners through the ring on Nov. 3 in Candied (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Velocity (Nyquist).

“Fasig-Tipton November has been a place where Eclipse, from our inception, has trusted some of our most prized fillies coming off the racetrack,” said Wellman, the President and Founder of Eclipse. “It's a destination for the world market to come knowing that they're going to get the cream of the crop. To be able to be represented by Grade I-winning fillies like Candied and Velocity and also a Grade I-placed graded stakes winner in Vixen (Vekoma) on the Night of the Stars is a huge honor for us.”

Candied wins this year's Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes | Bill Denver MJC

Already a Fasig-Tipton graduate, Candied was purchased at the 2022 July Sale for $165,000.

“All credit goes to our Vice President of Bloodstock Sean Tugel for bird dogging Candied,” recalled Wellman. “Being a daughter of Candy Ride, who's a proven blue-chip sire, she stood out to us that maybe she could fly in a little bit under the radar. To be able purchase her at the value we did, we thought we were getting away with highway robbery and she certainly proved that over the course of her illustrious career.”

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Candied won on debut at Saratoga going six furlongs and stayed perfect stretching to two turns in the GI Alcibiades Stakes. She bobbled at the start of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies but came flying late to claim third.

At three, Candied beat older fillies and mares in the Lady's Secret Stakes and showed her consistency throughout the season, placing second in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks and GI Alabama Stakes and third in the GI Spinster Stakes and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Racing for Eclipse and Bobby Flay this year at four, she added two more graded placings and captured the Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes.

To date, Candied has earned $1.3 million and has finished in the money in all but one of her 12 career starts.

“It's so rare to find a filly that can sustain top-level form from two all the way to four,” said Wellman. “For her to be able to do that shows not only what an incredible natural talent she was, but also her mental and physical constitution, her heartiness, her heart and her desire. For exactly those reasons, I think she has all the ingredients that any top breeder wants to see.”

Selling as Hip 201, Candied will sell with ELiTE Sales on the 'Night of the Stars.' Browning echoed Wellman's praise, pointing to the filly's standout track record.

“To see her durability and the consistency of her performances is really an unusual trait,” he said. “To be placed in the Breeders' Cup as a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old is a pretty significant accomplishment that not many fillies are able to perform. She's just a stone-cold runner, a stone-cold trier and really a throwback type of filly.”

Velocity wins the 2025 GI Del Mar Oaks | Benoit

Based on the opposite coast with trainer Michael McCarthy, Velocity was a filly Eclipse believed in from day one. In her second career start in March of her 3-year-old season this year, the Nyquist filly came from off the pace going six-and-a-half-furlongs, powering down the stretch to win by a nose.

“She was unlucky not to get blacktype in her next start in the GIII Senorita Stakes,” said Wellman. “We ran her in an allowance at Del Mar and she was really dynamic in that victory, which gave us the impetus to go ahead and be ambitious in running her in the GI Del Mar Oaks. She was a longshot that day, but internally our camp had quiet confidence that she was certainly going to outrun her odds.”

Off at 35-1, Velocity snuck up the rail to best SW and MGSP Lush Lips (GB) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) and MGSW Thought Process (Collected).

After that win, Velocity came up with an injury that put a premature end to her racing career.

“Michael McCarthy and I and our entire team really believed that she was destined for incredible things,” explained Wellman. “We decided that retiring her would be in her best interest, which is always our most important objective. Even though it's bittersweet to have her going through the Night of the Stars, we know that she's going to land in a great home and be bred to great stallions. She certainly looks the type to produce great babies.”

Velocity hails from a long line of Peter Blum homebreds. She is a half-sister to SP Open Road (Quality Road) and her winning dam Blast (Harlan's Holiday) is a full-sister to GISP Fun.

Browning said that the 3-year-old's pedigree will stand out when she sells as Hip 172 with Bluewater Sales.

“Mr. Blum has been one of the top breeders in America for probably fifty years and has produced top horses like Horse of the Year Authentic (Into Mischief),” said Browning. “He has made an indelible mark on the breeding industry and racing industry and Velocity is just the latest top runner that Mr. Blum's breeding program has produced.”

“Whenever you see Peter as the breeder, you have a lot of confidence that you know they were raised right and they've got incredible bloodlines,” added Wellman. “His mating with Nyquist in this instance was certainly the magic potion. Nyquist is just setting the world on fire. We thought Velocity was a Grade I physical with a Grade I pedigree and for her to evolve into a Grade I winner is really gratifying.”

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