Aron Wellman | Sarah Andrews
It’s been a busy time of year for Aron Wellman’s Eclipse Purebred Partners, with the much-anticipated sale season now in full swing alongside Saratoga and Del Mar’s iconic meetup. But Wellman and his partners are full of energy these days in large part thanks to Nest (Curlin) –Owned by Repole Stable and Michael House – who likely won the Eclipse Award for 3-year-old Filly Champion with a dominant win in the GI Alabama S. Saturday at the Spa. Third, Wellman sat down with the TDN . Writers Room Presented by Keeneland as Green Team Guest of the Week discusses Nest but also many industry issues in an extensive interview.
“I felt strangely calm going into the race,” Wellman said of his thoughts against Alabama. “She just allowed us to have a lot of confidence. There’s a lot of reason to be nervous when you’re supposed to be champion, but she thrived in the month between CCA Oaks and Alabama that we went in with a lot of confidence that she would be on the field. and working fine again. As far as performance is concerned, it’s nothing short of outstanding. She put on another spectacular performance, and she just keeps getting stronger, better, and more comfortable in her own skin.”
When asked if Nest would return to racing when she was four years old, Wellman said, “We had the intention of bringing her back next year. Look, Eclipse is in the racing business. And while we certainly have a program, an established path to what we call Eclipse fillers we’ve made a habit of developing over the past decade and then selling with Seven-figure price in auction or private, this is purely cut from a different fabric than most of our Class I fill fabrics which mean that she is just supposed to be better. Of course, health is always on your mind, but Curlin from an AP Indy mare, the thought of her growing into a 4-year-old and beyond is incredibly exciting. And Mike Repole is a top sports athlete. Mike House is growing up there and is having the time of his life. I don’t want to speak for them, but I will say that there is a fat girl capable of running in the races she is capable of running later this year and until next year, hopefully it’s more important. more than any zeros they can add to their ledger at this point. “
The conversation turned to enforcement of the Safety and Integrity Act at times, and Wellman was asked about his impressions of HISA’s early days.
“The types of partners Eclipse attracts are all about integrity in every respect and really what they want most when we put a horse on the track is a level playing field,” he said. “No one has an advantage or can get ahead. So I don’t think there are any downsides to HISA. Will there be growing pains? Sure. Any initiative like this, especially in the political arena, will have bumps in the road, and we’re seeing that. But I have to be honest, I am very impressed with the upper management of HISA, with [CEO] Lisa Lazarus. She’s willing to listen, and while change and getting it right may not be immediate and it may not happen as quickly as we all would like, they are trying. And we finally broke down that barrier of actually having some unified regulatory body as it pertains to drugs, at least. We have been fighting an impossible battle for decades on which we have made little progress. At the end of the day, we can’t forget the fact that the reason HISA came into effect is that we want to operate on a level playing field. If we keep an eye on the ball in that respect, we’ll be fine. “
Elsewhere in the show – also sponsored by Coolmorethe Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, XBTV, Three chimneys, Purebred West Point and Legacy Bloodstock–Joe Bianca, Bill Finley and Jon Green react to the arrest of Chad Brown and the suspension of Jamie Ness and look forward to a GI blockbuster Runhappy Travers S. date at card. Click here to watch the show; Click here to see the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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This story was posted in Top News and tagged Alabama, Aron Wellman, Bill Finley, Chad Brown, Eclipse’s Purebred Partner, Jamie Ness, Joe Bianca, Jon Green, Nest, Saratoga, TDN Podcasts, TDN . Writers’ Office.
