Sylvia Heft's 8-year-old Eighttofasttocatch recorded a record third victory in the Maryland Million Classic. He was one of four winners for leading Maryland Million sire Not For Love on the card, with Classy Coco, D C Dancer and Golden Years.
Fair Hill-based Graham Motion-trained Main Sequence made it four Grade 1 wins in a row when he took the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita, and was touted as a sure thing for an Eclipse Award as well as possible Horse of the Year honors.
Main Sequence was named 2014 champion grass horse and champion older horse for his 4-for-4 season.
Princess of Sylmar, a Pennsylvania-bred multiple Grade 1 winner and earner of more than $2 million, headed to Japan after selling as a broodmare prospect for $3.1 million to Shadai Farm at the Fasig-Tipton November sale in Kentucky. Named after Ronnie and Betsy Houghton's Sylmar Farm in Christiana where she was foaled and raised, Princess of Sylmar raced for breeder Ed Stanco and trainer Todd Pletcher.
Rosie Napravnik won the Breeders' Cup Distaff-G1 aboard Unstoppable and announced her retirement from riding during the post-race interview in the winner's circle. Napravnik won her first race for trainer Dickie Small at Pimlico in June 2005. She closed her career with 1,878 wins and more than $71 million in purses. The reason for her retirement? She and husband Joe Sharp were expecting their first child.
Mark Russell's Russell Road (Wheaton--Roberta Grump) rallied to defeat Lucy's Bob Boy in the $500,000 West Virginia Breeders Classic. He also won the race in 2009 and 2011 and was second in 2012 and 2013. Winning for the 28th time in 53 starts, the 8-year-old boosted his career earnings to $1,903,234.
There was a shake-up on the Mid-Atlantic sires lists as three of the top five -- Pin Oak Lane Farm's Offlee Wild and Any Given Saturday, and Northview's E Dubai -- would stand elsewhere in 2015. Offlee Wild, sire of that year's Breeders' Cup Classic-G1 winner Bayern, was sold to Turkey; Any Given Saturday was purchased by Korean interests; and E Dubai was relocating to Louisiana. Northview PA's Jump Start moved to the top of the list.
