Champagne Room Earns Toast as Champion 2-Year-Old Filly

In retrospect, the 33-1 odds on Champagne Room in the 14 Hands Winery Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) look foolish.

It’s not that the favorites weren’t deserving or that the Broken Vow   filly didn’t warrant longshot status. After a relatively underwhelming effort in her first two-turn try, that was enough to make her an outsider—but the second longest shot on the board in a field of 12?

Some might say that winning the Juvenile Fillies alone was enough to win the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly, but she might not have earned that honor—which was bestowed on her connections Jan. 21 at Gulfstream Park—without a promising summer at Del Mar.

SHULMAN: Champagne Room Takes Juvenile Fillies

Well supported in her debut for trainer Peter Eurton, who is not known for first-out success, Champagne Room ran second after breaking from the oft-dooming rail post at Del Mar in July. That encouraged Eurton to run her back, just three weeks later, in the Sorrento Stakes (G2).

That decision was deft, and bettors this time were on board. Off as the 6-5 favorite in the first of the Southern California graded stakes for juvenile fillies, Champagne Room defeated future stakes winner Miss Southern Miss by 11/4 lengths.

BALAN: Champagne Room Breaks Maiden in Sorrento

That moment of promise, however, was followed by a third-place run in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) and a troubled fourth-place finish in the Chandelier Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park, but the Juvenile Fillies upstaged them all.

While the Chandelier might have given bettors pause in the Juvenile Fillies, it didn’t faze Eurton.

“The trouble she got in—she was inside and wanted to go,” Eurton said of the Chandelier, a race where regular rider Mario Gutierrez was replaced by Mike Smith. “(Smith) was in a fight with her for five-eighths and only got beat by four (lengths).”

With Gutierrez—who had ridden her in her first three starts—back in the irons, it all clicked again for the filly. Champagne Room, unencumbered with an outside trip, opened a clear lead at the top of the stretch and just held off a late drive from impressive maiden winner Valadorna to win by three-quarters of a length.

“She’s still very aggressive by nature, and I think she’s going to grow out of that and maybe be a little more relaxed early on, so we just wanted to let her run out of there and think about where we are after that. Mario did an excellent job on getting her into good position,” Eurton said.