Rattling off five consecutive victories from spring through fall, capped by the Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Keeneland, Juddmonte's Elite Power surged to Eclipse Award honors as champion male sprinter of 2022.
Buoyed by his late-season stakes achievements, the Bill Mott trainee outpolled stablemate Cody's Wish , the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner, 2021 champion male sprinter Jackie's Warrior , and others. Still an allowance competitor through the summer, Elite Power notched his first stakes victory in taking the Oct. 8 Vosburgh Stakes (G2) during the Belmont at the Big A meet at Aqueduct Racetrack.
His Vosburgh performance, in which he defeated Eastern Bay by 5 3/4 lengths with seven furlongs in 1:23.98, earned him an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup. Then at Keeneland, he rallied from seventh and passed three horses in the final eighth of a mile to edge C Z Rocket by 1 1/4 lengths, with favored Jackie's Warrior a half-length back in third.
Elite Power raced six furlongs under Irad Ortiz Jr. in 1:09.11, the slowest Breeders' Cup Sprint in more than 10 years. His time registered a career-best 111 Equibase Speed Figure.
Lightly raced due to shin issues and other minor setbacks early in his career, Elite Power finished off the board in a pair of sophomore starts in 2021. "And we brought him back (in 2022), and he's been sound as a bell of brass," Mott said after the Breeders' Cup Sprint.
Classy, too, compiling a 5-for-6 record and earning nearly $1.4 million in 2022. His lone defeat of his 4-year-old season was a third-place finish in a Churchill Downs maiden race in early May.
Elite Power's score was the second Breeders' Cup win on the day for his Hall of Fame trainer after Cody's Wish's victory in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and a 12th career win at the World Championships. Elite Power was Juddmonte's eighth Breeders' Cup triumph.
A chestnut by Curlin out of the graded-winning Vindication mare Broadway's Alibi, Elite Power was a $900,000 purchase from the Lane's End consignment at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Alpha Delta Stables bred him in Kentucky.
"Going back to when (late owner) Prince Khalid (bin Abdullah) was with us, he wanted to start buying some horses at the sales," Juddmonte general manager Garrett O'Rourke said after the Breeders' Cup. "Obviously we got off to a good start with ($17.4 million earner) Arrogate and followed up with horses like this guy, just a beautiful horse from the very beginning."
Breeders' Cup Victory Cements Female Sprinter Title for Goodnight Olive
With a nearly spotless record and two back-to-back victories in grade 1 company, First Row Partners and Team Hanley's Goodnight Olive became a shoo-in for an Eclipse Award as the champion female sprinter of 2022.
Tension was high Nov. 5 of last year as a field of 12 took to the Keeneland main track while crowds watched eagerly to see if Ce Ce could retain her title in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) and subsequently her title as champion.
As the final turn came and went, it was not destined for the Bo Hirsch homebred, who landed in fourth as the leaders whooshed past the wire, including Goodnight Olive, who continued to pick up speed in the stretch to command the victory 2 1/2 lengths ahead of her challengers.
Still riding the high of the win, Chad Brown, who trains the 5-year-old mare, told a story of setbacks which were overcome on her journey to the World Stage.
"There's been more bad phone calls than good ones with this horse, I can promise you that," he said.
Though the mare may have only amassed seven starts thus far, her only loss was her first time out in a 2021 maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park. She made up for the uninspired run many times over and has not lost a race since, including the 2022 Ballerina Handicap (G1) at Saratoga Race Course which her connections say gave them assurance to run her at Keeneland two months later.
"When she started off her career, she came in a disappointing second, her only loss. She came here (Keeneland), broke her maiden, and rolled off six wins in a row," said Jay Hanley of Team Hanley. "The Ballerina, obviously a grade 1, Chad had the confidence to put her in there."
Brown added his sentiments saying, "That was a very strong race and I didn't think it would take any more to win (the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint)... especially with a horse that's proven to be fragile."
Purchased by Liz Crow for First Row Partners at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale for $170,000 from the Summerfield consignment, the daughter of Ghostzapper has now earned more than $1 million for her connections.
She was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings out of the ultra-successful Smart Strike mare Salty Strike who racked up wins in the 2011 Dogwood Stakes (G3) and 2012 Gardenia Stakes (G3) along with numerous other victories in stakes company. Goodnight Olive is her third foal.
