The easiest path to an Eclipse Award is to dominate a division. When a horse can then go outside that division and deliver a stellar performance, earning a championship is a slam dunk. Nest, the robust sophomore female who was dominant throughout 2022, did just that, earning the coveted prize as the top 3-year-old filly.
Nest, who raced for Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and Michael House, figured to be a good one from the start. Bred in Kentucky by the Lyster family's Ashview Farm and Richard Santulli's Colts Neck Stables, she is a daughter of top sire, and 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year, Curlin , out of the stakes-winning A.P. Indy mare Marion Ravenwood. The mating that produced the champion had been tried two years prior, and grade 1 winner Idol was the result.
A $350,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase, Nest showed at 2 she was near the head of the class, finishing her juvenile campaign for Todd Pletcher with a score in the nine-furlong Demoiselle Stakes (G2).
In mid-February she breezed through Tampa Bay Downs' Suncoast Stakes and was an 8 1/4-length winner of the Ashland Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.
A solid favorite against a strong line-up for the Kentucky Oaks (G1), Nest finished second to Secret Oath. Her size, strength, and demeanor meant taking a shot five weeks later against the boys in the Belmont Stakes (G1) was no whim and she proved more than worthy, finishing second by three lengths to stablemate (and Ashview/Colts Neck-bred) Mo Donegal .
Based in New York for the summer and fall, Nest earned her championship with open-length scores in the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama Stakes (both G1) at Saratoga Race Course—defeating Secret Oath both times—and the Beldame Stakes (G2) at the Belmont at the Big A stand.
She was returned to Keeneland for the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) and was the favorite for good reason. However, she came up short to finish fourth behind a tough trio of older distaffers—hardly a disgrace. For the year she earned $1,768,050 off a 5-2-0 mark in eight starts.
Prior to the Breeders' Cup, Repole discussed racing's role with friends and family and said this about his 7-year-old daughter:
"I asked Gioia what her favorite part of the track is. She said the winner's circle," he said. "So, she's like her dad, cause that's my favorite part, too, by the way."
Nest certainly helped make those trips more frequent in 2022.
