The Honeybee (Grade 3)- $500.000 Purse
OP- For Fillies Three Years Old
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
Febraury 22, 2025

Saturday’s Honeybee at OP featured what are likely the top two three year old fillies in our virtual racing world right now, as Soliloquy Sunset and Confident Elegance would go head to head. Each had won five out of six coming in, and each were here last month for the Martha Washington. That was won by Confident Elegance, and now Soliloquy Sunset would look to get her revenge. In the Pick ‘Em, more people felt that Soliloquy Sunset would prevail over her rival, and 62% of those who participated in that went for one of the two favorites. This was a nine horse field, so for the seven others, this was certainly a massive opportunity to introduce themselves as a contender and get a massive win of their own, but there was no denying who the top two were. The Honeybee would end up having a much quicker pace than the Martha Washington would, going a full second faster after half a mile, but one horse that was not up front early was Soliloquy Sunset, running near the back instead of being out front like she was here last month, though interestingly she ran essentially the same time at that juncture of the race. It would be a winning formula for our BC Juvenile Fillies winner, as she went on to win by a length! She is trained by Nakamura Stables and was ridden to victory by A A Gallardo. For each, it is their first Honeybee trophy. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:41.89, the third fastest in the race’s history. Let’s take a look at it!

(1/4 Mile- 22.64)- Two fillies have us running quickly right front the gate, as Stink Eye charges out of the gate for TwinTowersRacing, and she brings the Mb Stables- owned Us Against The World with her around the opening turn. There’s a break of two to Confident Elegance, as the Wood Duck Stables filly stalks the pace by herself while running on the rail. There’s another length to the fourth place Lucille, out of D J C Racing Stables, who goes four wide around the opening turn out of necessity. She does not have Scrumdiddlyumptious, a La Canada Racehorses filly, clear yet, so she is unable to move forward. Similarly, that one is almost a full length ahead of Night Mare Racing’s Down On The Beat. On the rail and in the seventh spot is where we find our eventual winner from Nakamura Stables, Soliloquy Sunset, and she is not concerned with how quickly they are running at the front end. There’s a break of about three to the two trailers, Twizted Tea (Asgar) and Nice Cat (BomBay Stables).

(½ Mile- :46.35)- Down the backstretch, Us Against The World and Stink Eye continue to go at each other, and there is nothing between them after half a mile. Meanwhile, Lucille used this portion of the race to advance her position, beginning that within the turn and then ultimately finding an opening in front of Confident Elegance. As for the Martha Washington winner, she continued to hold her position of being a couple lengths behind the leader. In the middle of the pack, Scrumdiddlyumptious was next in the third lane, and had Down On The Beat as well as Soliloquy Sunset running to her inside. Soliloquy Sunset was still five lengths off the pace, and perhaps more importantly, two lengths behind Confident Elegance. Further back, Nice Cat and Twizted Tea lost a little more ground.

(Top of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- Making our way around the turn, and entering the stretch, it was still Us Against The World and Stink Eye trying to maintain their lead and take it all the way to the wire, but they were caught by Lucille, who moved to the third lane to try and get by. Confident Elegance was fourth, and had a nice lane in front of her to make her run if she was going to do so. She was not all the way over to the rail, however, and that created enough of an opening for her rival, Soliloquy Sunset, to capitalize on. A A Gallardo looked to do so with his filly, as she first completed the pass of Scrumdiddlyumptious and Down On The Beat. Those two were lacking response at this point. Nice Cat emerged from the back of the field in good position and looked like she was ready to pick off a bunch. The same could not be said for Twizted Tea.

(Finish- 1:41.89)- With a furlong to go, Soliloquy Sunset had caught Confident Elegance and was about to complete the pass. This was not the pass for the win, of course, but it certainly had that impact as she was going to have the upper hand on her rival on this day. With a clear lane still in front of her, her advance pulled her to be within a length of the other three ahead of her, and it seemed imminent that she would pass Us Against The World and Stink Eye, though Lucille may not be as easy. As this was going on, a horse that was flying down the outside caught the attention of most people. That would be Nice Cat, with a valiant charge. Coming closer to the wire, Soliloquy Sunset would complete the pass of Lucille to secure the win, and while Nice Cat was running fast enough to pass everyone else, Soliloquy Sunset was too much for her on this day. It’s a big win for this filly, and we will be excited to watch her the next time out. Nice Cat made a nice impression here in her second place run, catching Lucille in the final strides. Confident Elegance did not have her best result here, but will collect the fourth place spoils, ahead of the pace setters, Us Against The World and Stink Eye. Rounding it out, it’s Down On The Beat, Scrumdiddlyumptious, and Twizted Tea.

About The Winner- Soliloquy Sunset, trained by Nakamura Stables and ridden to victory by A A Gallardo, is a three year old filly by The Sodfather and is out of Run Away Go Away. She was bred in Florida by Nakamura Stables as a first quarter two year old, the only trainer for which she has ever known! Congratulations to the connections! The win is her sixth in seven starts, and her fifth stake win, four of which are graded. Her career earnings are now $2,050.000.

Track: Fast
Time: :22³  :46¹  1:10³  1:41⁴

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 3 – 2 Paid 35.50
$1 Trifecta: 3 – 2 – 9 Paid 166.00

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES