Champagne Room Sparkles in Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies
Champagne Room exploded in the stretch of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies pouring under the wire by a narrow ¾ length at odds of 33-1. Ignored at the betting windows due to her poor performance in the Chandelier Stakes (G1), Champagne Room showed another dimension in the Juvenile Fillies.
Breaking alertly from post 6 Champagne Room went four wide around the first turn while scrambling for a pace pressing position. Jockey Mario Gutierrez kept Champagne Room under a tight hold in second place behind pacesetter Noted and Quoted. Sweet Loretta tracked in third on the rail while the rest were playing in traffic. Noted and Quoted set a leisurely first quarter in 23.77 and half mile in 48.19. after traveling six furlongs in 1:13.01, Noted and Quoted came under pressure from Champagne Room while American Gal and With Honors started to mount their challenges.
Around the far corner, Champagne Room breezed past the tiring Noted and Quoted and opened up by two lengths. Valadorna made a serious charge closing rapidly from ninth place to just miss the victory. The tough luck American Gal, who took the scenic route for most of the race, was 2 ¾ lengths behind in third and the late-running Daddys Lil Darling was a length back in fourth place.
Mario Gutierrez earned his first Juvenile Fillies victory with Champagne Room. He remarked about his trip, “I had a perfect trip. She broke really sharp. I was able to settle behind the speed and when I asked her, she ran with all her heart today.”
The highest payout in the history of the BC Juvenile Fillies happened at Santa Anita and we saw another huge payday when Champagne Room rewarded celebrators $69.20 to win, $26.60 to place and $13.00 to show Valadorna returned $9.80 and $6.60 to place and American Gal paid $4.80 to show. Champagne Room has a 5-2-1-1 race record and in earnings.
Champagne Room (Broken Vow - Lucky to Be Me, by Bernstein) went through three sales rings, most recently attracting $310,000 at the OBS April Two Year Old In Training Sale. The bay filly is owned by the partnership of Ciaglia, Exline-Border, Gulliver Racing, Christensen, Legan & Alesia. California trainer Peter Eurton conditions Champagne Room. Eurton previously trained Weemissfrankie to a third place finish in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Today, Eurton noted, “I wasn’t feeling utterly confident (coming down the stretch). She was actually moving pretty well. She was getting a little tired, but there wasn’t anyone catching her. I’m feeling pretty good right now. This means an awful lot to me."
Champagne Room is the second foal and first stakes winner produced by her dam Lucky to Be Me. The dam is a half sister to the multiple stakes winning miler INHISGLORY and the Grade 3 placed sprinter Hat of Jacks.