Breeders' Cup Mile Win Lifts Uni to Turf Female Title
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Uni wins the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita Park
Uni might be small in stature, but she was large in accomplishment in 2019, winning the First Lady Stakes Presented by UK Healthcare (G1T) and defeating males in the TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) to secure the Eclipse Award for female turf horse of 2019.
A specialist at a mile, Uni raced four times last year, notching three stakes victories and a third-place finish in the Fourstardave Handicap (G1T). In each of her wins, she raced a mile on turf in under 1:33.
Late to start her season after body soreness following a score in the Matriarch Stakes (G1T) in December 2018, Uni returned in the June 29 Perfect Sting Stakes at Belmont Park. Last of five with a quarter-mile to race, she spurted home under Joel Rosario—her jockey throughout the year—to complete a mile in 1:32.84.
A start against males in the Aug. 10 Fourstardave at Saratoga Race Course was her lone defeat of the season. Seventeen lengths back midway through the race, the daughter of More Than Ready stormed home but fell 2 1/2 lengths shy of victorious Got Stormy, a filly she met again in the Mile.
Next, trainer Chad Brown sent her to Keeneland, this time back with fillies and mares in the Oct. 5 First Lady, and she inhaled a classy field down the lane, scoring by 2 1/2 lengths in a course-record 1:32.87.
Brown then persuaded owners Michael Dubb, Sol Kumin's Head of Plains Partners, Robert LaPenta, and Bethlehem Stables that she warranted eligibility to the Breeders' Cup as a horse-of-racing-age nomination for $100,000, a gamble that paid off Nov. 2 in the Mile at Santa Anita Park. In the performance that vaulted her to a championship, Uni turned the tables on Got Stormy, defeating the Eclipse Award finalist by 1 1/2 lengths. Her time for the mile, 1:32.45, was her fastest of the year.
"To watch those two fillies throw down in a race like this, it's one of the ones you'll remember," Kumin said.
Called a "pint-sized keg of dynamite" by Brown, Uni exploded in 2019, making $1,455,000 to push her career earnings to $2,347,880. That is a number likely to increase as she will remain in training at age 6 this year, with the Just a Game Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park in June mentioned by her connections as a midyear target.