When Maryfield (Elusive Quality) splashed home to a half-length victory in the inaugural Breeder? Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (video), she also secured the first-ever Eclipse statuette as Filly Sprint Champion. Maryfield, claimed for $50,000 from a Santa Anita turf event in January 2006, began 2007 with three off-the-board efforts in Southern California graded stakes company. But things turned around for the bay mare when she was forced to rate after a slow start in the GII Distaff Breeder? Cup H. (video) at Aqueduct in March. “The key was getting her to relax, which happened pretty much by accident after she broke slow in the Distaff Breeders' Cup H., and for that I give a lot of credit to jockey Jorge Chavez,” trainer Doug OíNeill said after the Breedersí Cup. “I just wish we'd figured it out sooner.î
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