Euro Charline Making Historic Bid in Beverly D.

Euro Charline heads down the horse path at Arlington Park. (Photos by Melissa Bauer-Herzog)
Last year when Euro Charline crossed the finish line ¾ of a length ahead of Stephanie’s Kitten she made history by becoming the first 3-year-old filly to win the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park. This year, she looks to continue making history by being the first horse to win the Beverly D. twice.
But Euro Charline nearly didn’t get a chance to run in the Beverly D. at all. Team Valor International president Barry Irwin had some doubts when he was thinking about buying her but when an agent close to trainer Marco Botti kept mentioning her he finally decided to go forward with the purchase. However, Euro Charline nearly stopped the sale herself with her antics during the vetting.
“So we sent a vet over and she’s a high strung filly, and what they do is when you’re going to buy a horse, you jog it back and forth,” Irwin said. “She is such a character that she would jog and change her legs back and forth and they couldn’t get her into a normal jog. I had to send the vet back [to England] three times. Finally he says ‘I’m throwing my hands up, I can’t tell you to buy her and I can’t tell you not to buy her’ and I said ‘Well, I’m buying her because I like her’ so that’s how that happened.”
In her first race for Team Valor, Euro Charline was a close second and a few months later won a stakes at Ascot in her final race before the Beverly D.
Euro Charline went off at 10.80-to-1 in the 2014 Beverly D. and beat one of the toughest fields seen in all of American racing that year. After the race, she was transferred to Todd Pletcher to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup but after an injury was found that October, she took the rest of the year off.
2014 BEVERLY D. STAKES

Video courtesy of Breeders’ Cup World Championships
The move seemed to be a good one for Euro Charline as she returned to England to be trained by her former trainer Marco Botti and spent the winter maturing into a stronger horse.
“I think she’s much better this year, she’s stronger,” said Irwin. “She’s got a fabulous physique, she looks like a colt, she’s very powerful. She’s got a pretty powerful shoulder and chest. According to Marco [Botti], the trainer, her work last Saturday was her best so far. She likes this time of year, she seems to blossom and we’re really looking forward to running her in this race.”
This year, Euro Charline has raced twice with a second in the Falmouth and a fourth in the DP World Dubai Turf in Meydan. Coming into the Beverly D., Euro Charline is looking strong while training on the turf here, eager to gallop in the mornings near the end of training hours.
EURO CHARLINE GALLOPING AT ARLINGTON

But in addition to knowing that Euro Charline loves Arlington Park, Team Valor has another reason for sending her to this race.
“There’s one horse over there [in Europe] right now that she has been unable to beat, a horse called Amazing Maria … and she looks like she’s getting even better,” said Irwin. “We won the [Beverly D.] last year so we know our filly is effective there and she likes it. I just think she made history last year by becoming the first 3-year-old filly to win it and we’d like to win it twice. I think that would be a good credential when we eventually sell her as a racing or broodmare prospect.”
With the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf run at the same distance as the Beverly D. this year, Irwin is looking at this as a kind of prep for the Breeders’ Cup.
“The Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, because of the configuration of the course, is exactly the same distance as the Beverly D. So that sounds like a good fit for her,” Irwin said. “Marco actually didn’t want to come to the Beverly D. as much this year, he wanted to shoot for the Breeders’ Cup and the Breeders’ Cup is run at Keeneland, which is a sand-based track that some horses like it and some horses don’t. So I wanted to make sure we get one good win in this year before we do any experimenting.”
If Euro Charline were to win both the Beverly D. and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in the same year she’d join Dank, who won both races in 2013, as the only two horses to win the double.