Nest to Skip Breeders' Cup, Bound for Fasig-Tipton Sale

The champion filly Nest  was withdrawn from consideration for the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Oct. 21 and will be offered at the November Sale at Fasig-Tipton. The Nov. 7 sale, in which elite fillies and mares are sold in the evening, is called the "Night of the Stars," owing to its top-level sales entrants.

Mike Repole, who owns the largest individual share of the champion 3-year-old filly of 2022, said all options are on the table for the filly, including the possibility that he would purchase her at the sale and race her next year.

"She's a special filly. She's a champion," Repole said. "What she did at (Saratoga Race Course) last year, winning the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and the Alabama (Stakes, G1), probably made her the horse of the meet. Her best race might have been the Belmont (Stakes, G1) against the boys but people don't appreciate it because she finished second."

The Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old filly of 2022 for an ownership group that also includes Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House is coming off a pair of disappointing starts as an odds-on favorite, finishing fourth in the Oct. 8 Spinster Stakes (G1) and third in the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1).

"She's a filly who doesn't owe us anything," said Aron Wellman, president and founder of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. "After assessing everything after two sub-par performance following the standard of excellence she set in her career, we decided it wasn't going to be in her best interests to go to the Breeders' Cup. We're not in the breeding business, per se, so we will take the windfall and the liquidation event. As emotional as it may be to part with a champion like her, it's absolutely the thing to do. She has great intrinsic value and will be one of the most sought-after mares coming into the commercial market."

A daughter of Curlin   bred by Ashview Farm and Colts Neck Farm, Nest has won eight of 14 starts and earned $2,172,675.

The winner of three grade 1 stakes, she was also second a year ago in the Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Out of the A. P. Indy mare Marion Ravenwood , she was bought for $350,000 from the Ashview Farm consignment at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Daily Racing Form first reported the news of Nest skipping the Breeders' Cup Distaff.

As much as Repole had his two best horses, Forte   and Nest, taken out of Breeders' Cup consideration in the last two days, he still expects to have eight starters in the World Championships, led by Up to the Mark   in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T), Bright Future  in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), and Fierceness  in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). Other possible starters are Agate Road  and Noted  in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), Life's an Audible  in the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), and Scalable  and Life Talk  in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).