e Five Racing Gearing Up for Second-Half Run

Packing an abundance of success into a short time frame has been the modus operandi for e Five Racing Thoroughbreds since it burst onto the Thoroughbred racing scene less than three years ago. In that sense 2018 has been par for the course for Bob Edwards' stable.

The first six months of the season were a bittersweet whirlwind that saw e Five's juvenile champion Good Magic solidify his class with a victory in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2), a runner-up effort to eventual Triple Crown winner Justify in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), and gritty, fourth-place outing in the Preakness Stakes (G1). While the chestnut son of Curlin  was showing his gameness, his fellow Breeders' Cup winning-stablemate Rushing Fall similarly got herself in gear with a graded victory at Keeneland and second-place finish at Churchill Downs that first week in May.

With those two already well positioned for more strong runs in the second half of the year, the filly who helped put e Five Racing on the map rejoined the fray June 21 and signaled that she too was ready to get back to business.

Multiple grade 1 winner New Money Honey made her 4-year-old debut a successful one Thursday, when she prevailed by a neck in a 1 1/16-mile allowance turf race at Belmont Park, her first start since she finished fourth in the American Oaks (G1T) in December.

The Chad Brown-trained daughter of Medaglia d'Oro  holds special sentiment among the e Five team, as she was the operation's first standout runner and first Breeders' Cup winner, having captured the 2016 Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T). Her 3-year-old season saw her build off that precocity, with victories in the Wonder Again Stakes (G3T) and Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T), but after she dropped her last three starts of 2017, the decision was made to give the filly a freshening and see what a more mature filly had to offer.

Though she had to work to prevail as the 1-9 favorite Thursday, when she wore down Special Event, New Money Honey's debut should set her up for a return to top-level company in the Diana Stakes (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course July 21.

"She came out of the race great," Edwards said. "(Jockey) Javier Castellano cut it a little close, but he hadn't really asked her at all. She's such a big filly that you kind of have to ask her a little earlier. But he tapped her a couple times and she got into gear.

"Chad's plan was basically to see how she did and she came out of it fine. She's actually on her way to Saratoga now, and he believes she earned a shot to run in the Diana. We wanted to give her some time after the end of last year—let her get her head right—and it paid off."

With five wins from 10 starts and more than $1.4 million in earnings, New Money Honey is one of the headliners in a Brown barn that is overflowing with turf talent.

Rushing Fall already followed in her stablemate's footsteps by capturing the 2017 Juvenile Fillies Turf, an effort that capped an unbeaten 2-year-old season and made the daughter of More Than Ready  an Eclipse Award finalist for divisional honors. Whether  the bay filly gets a chance to keep the Belmont Oaks hardware in the family, however, is still being determined.

After she opened her season with a stirring win in the Appalachian Stakes Presented by Japan Racing Association (G2T), Rushing Fall suffered her first defeat in the May 4 Edgewood Stakes presented by Forcht Bank (G3T), when she uncharacteristically ended up on the lead. She still fought on in the stretch, but fell a neck short of Toinette. That loss prompted Brown and Edwards to scrap potential plans to send her to Royal Ascot for the Coronation Stakes (G1), and if she starts in the Belmont Oaks, the 1 1/4-mile distance will be one she will try for the first time.

"It's 50-50 right now (for the Belmont Oaks)," Edwards said. "Chad believes she can do the distance and ... she's getting stronger and better every time in her breezes. He may call me after she breezes this weekend and say, 'She showed me a lot. Let's give her a shot.'"

After giving Justify his best shot in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, Good Magic bypassed the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets (G1) but returned to the workout tab June 10 with a half-mile breeze at Belmont in :50.90. The chestnut colt clocked another four-furlong move June 16 in :48.04, with the Haskell Invitational (G1) mentioned by Brown as his likely target.

"We still think a lot of the horse, obviously," Edwards said of Good Magic, who broke his maiden in the 2017 Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). "If he gets an opportunity again to run at (Justify), we'll run at him. We're not afraid."