Grade 1 Winner Illuminant Set for Return to Racing

After finding Illuminant's top gear in the spring of 2016, trainer Michael McCarthy had to hit the brakes.

The then 4-year-old filly broke through with aplomb in the Gamely Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita Park May 30. The stalking trip with a determined kick for home to hold off seven rivals was the daughter of Quality Road  's first stakes score at any level and McCarthy's second grade 1 win of his training career (Rags to Riches' victory in the 2007 Las Virgenes is the other). The rest of the 2016 campaign looked like Illuminant's oyster.

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"After she won the Gamely, I really thought she was going places," McCarthy said. "We were thinking about Saratoga and possibly the Beverly D. (G1T, at Arlington International Racecourse). Everything was in play."

But during training as the Southern California circuit shifted to Del Mar for the summer, something just didn't feel right. McCarthy attributed it to the "wear and tear" of five tough races through five months, but the filly also just wasn't taking to the main track in San Diego County.

"She just didn't seem like she was 100%," McCarthy said. "She was struggling with the racetrack down there and I didn't want to force the issue with her."

So the trainer gave Illuminant significant time off, which included a 90-day turnout in Kentucky in the fall. As she went through the sales ring at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed sale, however, it was unclear if McCarthy would get her back. SF Bloodstock went to $900,000 to buy the filly, but previous owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners made an arrangement to retain an ownership stake and the connections decided to have her race at 5.

"It was a nice boost when she was sent back to us," McCarthy said. "Any time you train a grade 1 winner and they get sold, you just hope they come back to you. I didn't know what to expect when she came back, but she's exceeded our expectations in training."

If the $200,000 Buena Vista Stakes (G2T) stays on the turf Feb. 18—which is currently in question as a severe storm hammers the West Coast—Illuminant is set to kick off her 2017 campaign. The big, dark bay filly always trained well, and she's carried that form as a mare, which gives McCarthy a reason to be optimistic.

"The whole process of going through the 2-year-old sale and coming to us—there's a lot to go through," McCarthy said of Illuminant's development after Eclipse purchased her for $180,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s 2014 March sale of 2-year-olds in training. "They're pushed to get through those sales, and she's always been large in stature and she's got a headstrong attitude in a good way. She does everything 110% all the time, but it took a lot of time to get the physical up to the mental.

"She's a magnificent work horse. She loves to hit that extra gear in the morning, which is not what we're always hoping for, but we let her do that from time to time."

If all goes well locally, McCarthy again is looking beyond California for Illuminant, confident she can hang with some of the best turf females in the country. She got a taste last year, when she took on Tepin in the Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland one start before the Gamely. Illuminant finished third, 6 1/2 lengths behind the two-time champion turf mare, but it was her first grade 1 try and her first time shipping out of California.

"It's not something I'd recommend—shipping out of town like that to take on a champion like that," McCarthy said with a laugh. "But she handled it well."

McCarthy said the Jenny Wiley is a potential target again in 2017 for Illuminant, as are some of the lucrative turf stakes at Belmont Park later in the year.

"When they're good, sometimes you've got to go after the good races out there," McCarthy said. "But coming back we just want to make sure she's happy and healthy and get her campaign underway. This week was a good place to get started, but mother nature might have some other plans."