Banimpire gets entry for New York Stakes at Belmont Park
Chad Brown’s 2011 Irish Oaks (IRE-I) runner-up, Banimpire, gets entry for the New York Stakes and will face Flaxman Holdings’ top-class turf mare, Aruna, and five other quality runners in the $200,000 event at Belmont Park this weekend.
The 4-year-old created history, when becoming the most expensive racing filly to be sold at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale last year. The daughter of Holy Roman Emperor was purchased by Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock for a massive amount worth
$3,095,110. She has earned $654,536 so far in her career and has a great chance of adding another $200,000 to her earnings.
The dark brown filly made her last outing in October last year, when she failed to make an impact. The Grade 2 British Champions Fillies And Mares saw her finishing seventh on the table. The highlight of Banimpire’s career was a fantastic hat-trick in last
May, when she respectively banged her rivals at Leopardstown, Gowran Park and Naas. The filly’s last success was at York, where she clinched a comprehensive victory in the Grade 2 Royal Whip Stakes at Curragh in August 2011.
Banimpire has been rated a major threat to Aruna, who is being considered favourite for the New York Stakes. The 5-year-old is in great shape following a tremendous success in the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay Stakes. Nonetheless, H. Graham Motion gives Chad’s
filly plenty of respect, saying that Aruna will have to be on top of her game in produce a positive result at Belmont Park.
“The [Sheepshead Bay and the New York] are similar races, but the New York will be more akin to a grade I in terms of the calibre of the horses who will be competing in it. Chad’s horse is a serious filly; I remember when they bought her last year. She’s
really very highly regarded and could be very formidable not only this weekend, but for the rest of the year,” said Motion.
He added: “Our concerns before have always been that she needed to settle, and I think now that she’s an older filly she settles much easier and she’s easier to ride."
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