Saturday’s Champions Cup (JPN-G1) at Chukyo came down to a desperate head bob as W Heart Bond, who had taken the lead in the stretch, tried to stave off Wilson Tesoro’s charge up the rail. She succeeded by a flaring nostril, gaining her first Group 1 win. She also became the first third-generation member of the family of 1994 American champion 3-year-old filly Heavenly Prize to win a top-level race, enhancing an already noteworthy produce record for one of the best of the Phipps family’s parade of fine racehorses.
Sired by the excellent racehorse and stallion Seeking the Gold from Oh What a Dance, a Nijinsky II daughter of Phipps foundation mare Blitey, Heavenly Prize first came to national attention when she won the 1993 Frizette Stakes (USA-G1) by seven lengths in only her second lifetime start. That she was in the race at all testifies to the confidence that trainer Claude “Shug” McGaughey had in her talent, as the beaten field included Strategic Maneuver, winner of the Spinaway Stakes (USA-G1) and Matron Stakes (USA-G1).
Sent to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1), Heavenly Prize could not quite handle American champion juvenile filly Phone Chatter or eventual Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) winner Sardula, settling for third. Brought along patiently as a 3-year-old, she took until the Saratoga meeting to find her best form, but when she did, she did so with a vengeance. She did not quite have the foot to run down the speedy Twist Afleet and Penny’s Reshoot in the seven-furlong Test Stakes (USA-G1), but stretched out to 10 furlongs for the Alabama Stakes (USA-G1) three weeks later, she turned in a monstrous effort to win by seven lengths over Lakeway.
With four Grade 1 wins and a narrow loss in the Kentucky Oaks to her credit, Lakeway had been the divisional leader to that point, but Heavenly Prize was now rolling and ready to stake her own claim to championship honors. She won the Gazelle Handicap (USA-G1) by 6½ lengths against her own division; then, after scaring off all but three rivals for the Beldame Stakes (USA-G1) at weight for age, she ran away from her Grade 1-winning stablemate Educated Risk (a 4-year-old) by six lengths. In the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (USA-G1), Heavenly Prize just failed to run down the speedy One Dreamer, who had gotten away with an uncontested lead and held on for a 47-1 upset. Nevertheless, with both 1993 American champion 3-year-old filly Hollywood Wildcat and the year’s champion older female, Sky Beauty, in the beaten field, there was little doubt as to the voters’ choice for the 3-year-old filly Eclipse Award. Heavenly Prize took home the statuette.
At 4, Heavenly Prize won four consecutive Grade 1 races, culminating in an 8½-length romp in the John A. Morris Stakes at Saratoga, but season-ending losses to champion 3-year-old filly Serena’s Song in the Beldame Stakes and to stablemate Inside Information (who beat her by 13½ lengths) in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff ended her quest for a second Eclipse Award. Kept in training for a crack at the males in the 1996 Donn Handicap (USA-G1), Heavenly Prize was a respectable third behind defending American Horse of the Year Cigar and then retired to the paddocks having won half her 18 starts and run second or third in the remaining nine. Her record earned her induction into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 2018.
Heavenly Prize did very well as a matron, producing two-time Grade 1 winner Good Reward and 2002 Kentucky Cup Classic Handicap (USA-G2) winner Pure Prize to covers by Storm Cat and stakes winner Cosmic to a cover by El Prado. Of the three, Pure Prize has had the greatest long-term importance, leading the Argentine general sire list twice. Heavenly Prize is also the maternal granddam of two Grade 1 winners. One, 2020 Manhattan Stakes winner Instilled Regard (by Arch), was produced from Enhancing (by the good Storm Cat horse Forestry). The other, Persistently (by Smoke Glacken out of Just Reward, by Deputy Minister) won the 2010 Personal Ensign Stakes and was purchased privately for Japan’s Northern Farm. W Heart Bond, a 2021 daughter of 2013 Japanese champion 3-year-old male Kizuna, is Persistently’s sixth named foal.
W Heart Bond (pronounced “Double Heart Bond” in Japan) gets her name from her unusual star, which resembles two linked hearts. Now the winner of six of seven starts, her future as a racehorse has not yet been announced, Nevertheless, she has already proved herself a worthy heiress to a champion’s legacy, with a champion’s heart to match.
Sired by the excellent racehorse and stallion Seeking the Gold from Oh What a Dance, a Nijinsky II daughter of Phipps foundation mare Blitey, Heavenly Prize first came to national attention when she won the 1993 Frizette Stakes (USA-G1) by seven lengths in only her second lifetime start. That she was in the race at all testifies to the confidence that trainer Claude “Shug” McGaughey had in her talent, as the beaten field included Strategic Maneuver, winner of the Spinaway Stakes (USA-G1) and Matron Stakes (USA-G1).
Sent to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1), Heavenly Prize could not quite handle American champion juvenile filly Phone Chatter or eventual Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) winner Sardula, settling for third. Brought along patiently as a 3-year-old, she took until the Saratoga meeting to find her best form, but when she did, she did so with a vengeance. She did not quite have the foot to run down the speedy Twist Afleet and Penny’s Reshoot in the seven-furlong Test Stakes (USA-G1), but stretched out to 10 furlongs for the Alabama Stakes (USA-G1) three weeks later, she turned in a monstrous effort to win by seven lengths over Lakeway.
With four Grade 1 wins and a narrow loss in the Kentucky Oaks to her credit, Lakeway had been the divisional leader to that point, but Heavenly Prize was now rolling and ready to stake her own claim to championship honors. She won the Gazelle Handicap (USA-G1) by 6½ lengths against her own division; then, after scaring off all but three rivals for the Beldame Stakes (USA-G1) at weight for age, she ran away from her Grade 1-winning stablemate Educated Risk (a 4-year-old) by six lengths. In the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (USA-G1), Heavenly Prize just failed to run down the speedy One Dreamer, who had gotten away with an uncontested lead and held on for a 47-1 upset. Nevertheless, with both 1993 American champion 3-year-old filly Hollywood Wildcat and the year’s champion older female, Sky Beauty, in the beaten field, there was little doubt as to the voters’ choice for the 3-year-old filly Eclipse Award. Heavenly Prize took home the statuette.
At 4, Heavenly Prize won four consecutive Grade 1 races, culminating in an 8½-length romp in the John A. Morris Stakes at Saratoga, but season-ending losses to champion 3-year-old filly Serena’s Song in the Beldame Stakes and to stablemate Inside Information (who beat her by 13½ lengths) in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff ended her quest for a second Eclipse Award. Kept in training for a crack at the males in the 1996 Donn Handicap (USA-G1), Heavenly Prize was a respectable third behind defending American Horse of the Year Cigar and then retired to the paddocks having won half her 18 starts and run second or third in the remaining nine. Her record earned her induction into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 2018.
Heavenly Prize did very well as a matron, producing two-time Grade 1 winner Good Reward and 2002 Kentucky Cup Classic Handicap (USA-G2) winner Pure Prize to covers by Storm Cat and stakes winner Cosmic to a cover by El Prado. Of the three, Pure Prize has had the greatest long-term importance, leading the Argentine general sire list twice. Heavenly Prize is also the maternal granddam of two Grade 1 winners. One, 2020 Manhattan Stakes winner Instilled Regard (by Arch), was produced from Enhancing (by the good Storm Cat horse Forestry). The other, Persistently (by Smoke Glacken out of Just Reward, by Deputy Minister) won the 2010 Personal Ensign Stakes and was purchased privately for Japan’s Northern Farm. W Heart Bond, a 2021 daughter of 2013 Japanese champion 3-year-old male Kizuna, is Persistently’s sixth named foal.
W Heart Bond (pronounced “Double Heart Bond” in Japan) gets her name from her unusual star, which resembles two linked hearts. Now the winner of six of seven starts, her future as a racehorse has not yet been announced, Nevertheless, she has already proved herself a worthy heiress to a champion’s legacy, with a champion’s heart to match.
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