ARCADIA, Calif. (Feb. 10, 2022)–Unbeaten in three starts, Speedway Stables’ Corniche was named Eclipse Award Champion Two-Year-Old Male Thursday evening at an Eclipse Award Gala hosted by Santa Anita Park.
Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Mike Smith, Corniche, who won all three of his starts in gate to wire fashion, culminated his juvenile campaign with a 1 ¾ length score in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 5.
A Kentucky-bred colt by Quality Road out of the Najran mare Wasted Tears, Corniche was purchased by Peter Fluor and K. C. Weiner’s Speedway Stables, LLC for $1.5 million out of a Florida 2-year-old in training sale in April of last year.
“When we got into the business, we weren’t thinking about Eclipse Awards,” said Fluor. “We were thinking about how to do things right and to surround ourselves with good people to help us get these things accomplished. So this is a big deal, it’s a culmination of all of that work for the last seven years. It’s a big thrill for us.”
“Winning this award is as exhilarating as anything I’ve done in my entire life,” said Weiner. “It’s wonderful and to have this colt be recognized for what he’s accomplished, it’s spectacular.”
A 4 ¼ length first-out maiden winner going 5 ½ furlongs at Del Mar Sept. 4, Corniche, at odds of 2-5, was in complete control at a mile and one sixteenth on Oct. 1, taking Santa Anita’s Grade I American Pharoah Stakes by 3 ¼ lengths.
A four-time Eclipse Award Trainer of the Year, Baffert has trained the winners of six Eclipse Two-Year-Old Male champions and has now saddled a record of 27 Eclipse Award-winning horses.
Corniche joins Champion Female Sprinter Ce Ce and Champion Apprentice Jockey Jessica Pyfer as one of three 2021 Eclipse Award winners based at Santa Anita.
Santa Anita Press Release
Photo: Corniche (Benoit Photo)
