British Idiom Lands Juvenile Filly Championship

The speed figure British Idiom earned in her winning debut at Saratoga Race Course gave trainer Brad Cox the confidence to move forward, and the chestnut daughter of Flashback  did the rest. Back-to-back wins in two-turn grade 1 races were more than enough to separate her from the rest of the pack, and she was an easy pick to earn the Eclipse Award as top juvenile filly.

Bred in Kentucky by the late Hargus Sexton, his wife, Sandra, and Steve and Brandi Nicholson's Silver Fern Farm, British Idiom was a $40,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale purchase by bloodstock agent Liz Crow (signing the ticket as X-Go Ranch).

Racing for Michael Dubb, Stuart Grant's The Elkstone Group, Sol Kumin's Madaket Stables, and Bethlehem Stables, British Idiom debuted Aug. 15 at the Spa in a maiden special weight race for sale horses sold for $45,000 or less. The result was a 3 1/2-length win going six furlongs.

"She did all of her pre-training in Kentucky, and we shipped her to Saratoga. She had showed enough in the mornings that she would be a 'Saratoga filly,'" Cox said. "She received a good figure off of that, and we were pointing toward the Pocahontas (Stakes, G2, Sept. 14 at Churchill Downs) ... we worked the week before, and I just wasn't happy with the work and the way she came out of the work, so we took a step back and circled around to the Alcibiades and she proved that day she was a grade 1 horse."

In the Oct. 4 Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) British Idiom cruised to 6 1/2-length victory under Javier Castellano. In her immediate wake was the grade 1-winning Perfect Alibi.

"With her physical make up and pedigree (she is out of Rose and Shine, by Mr. Sekiguchi) we thought she'd stretch out just fine," Cox said. "She's not overly aggressive in her training. She's really mild-mannered and has a great mind, so I think that gave us a good indication she'd stretch out."

Still, there was another bell to answer. Shipping across the country and facing grade 1 winner Bast and the well-regarded Donna Veloce, British Idiom rated well in the 1 1⁄/6-mile Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and had to grind her way past Donna Veloce in deep stretch to post a neck victory.

A 3-for-3 campaign, including the score in the division's top race, sealed the deal for British Idiom.

She's already training toward the May 1 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), a race won by the Cox-trained champion Monomoy Girl in 2018.