Eminent Victor Becomes First Stakes Winner for Mr. Z

Eminent Victor  came home the best of four to give her sire Mr. Z   his first stakes winner in the $100,000 Wild Applause Stakes, a one-mile Widener turf test for sophomore fillies June 25 at Belmont Park. 

Trained by four-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, who also saddled runner-up Oakhurst  and fourth-place finisher Lakota Spirit , Eminent Victor made her first start for Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, Louis Lazzinnaro, and Michael Caruso since earning graded black type in September in the Natalma Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine in just her second start.

Eminent Victor was piloted by Flavien Prat from the outermost post 4 and was kept nine lengths back in third as Breeze Easy  led the compact field through an opening quarter-mile in :22.45, with Lakota Spirit  pressing to her outside over the firm turf. Prat asked his charge to reel in her two foes as the pair of pacesetters made their way through the turn and a half-mile in :46.15, with Eminent Victor taking her place to the outside of Breeze Easy. Oakhurst, who broke a step slow and raced well off the pace, made up considerable ground in the turn and swung wide to the center of the racetrack for the drive to the wire with Eminent Victor gaining the advantage in the middle path at the stretch call. 

Despite a bobble at the top of the lane, the eventual winner continued to find more with every stride between her two rivals and held off a game Oakhurst by a half-length in a final time of 1:33.31. She returned $5.40 for a $2 win wager. 

Breeze Easy finished 1 1/2 lengths back of Oakhurst for show honors with Lakota Spirit rounding out the order of finish. Al Qahira  was scratched. 

"She's been ready for two months. This filly has had terrible luck," said Brown. "We took her to Keeneland, she got excluded. Then, she was rained out at least twice in Kentucky between Keeneland and Churchill. So then, rather than chase more allowance races, we brought her back to home base here, pointing for a stake knowing the filly needs to run. That's why she ended up in a stake, and she had a million breezes so she was fit."

Eminent Victor has shown maturity since the fall, something Brown said made him take off the blinkers for her sophomore debut. 

"When I got her last summer as a private purchase, she came over to Saratoga, and I did all I could to keep her straight on the turf course breezing her. She was difficult to steer, that's why we put them on," said Brown. "We got her to cooperate a bit. When I gave her some time off this winter and brought her back, she didn't really need them. She matured and she was as straight as an arrow. So, we took them off and I ran her without them."

Eminent Victor will likely make her next start at Saratoga Race Course. She could target a stretch-out in the $700,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G3T) Aug. 7 or in the $200,000 Lake Placid Stakes (G2T) Aug. 20. 

"We'll have to see how she comes out," Brown said. "I don't know if she put her hat in the ring for the Saratoga Oaks at a mile and three-sixteenths, if she'll go that far. Flavien certainly thinks she'll stretch out. That's a bit of a jump off a mile race, but you always have the Lake Placid at a mile and a sixteenth later in the meet."

Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm out of the Unusual Heat  mare Juliet Victory, Eminent Victor was a debut winner sprinting five furlongs over the all-weather track at Arlington International Racecourse last July for former trainer Michael Puhich.

Bought privately thereafter, she now boasts a 2-0-1 record from three starts and career earnings of $104,317. 

Stakes winner Mr. Z, by Malibu Moon , earned more than $1.1 million during his racing career. He stands at Calumet, where his 2022 fee was advertised as $2,500, live foal stands and nurses. 

Video: Wild Applause S. (BT)