New Money Honey

If one is going to have beginner’s luck in racing, one might as well do it on racing’s biggest weekend with one of racing’s leading trainers at the helm. That’s just what Bob and Kristine Edwards of E Five Racing Thoroughbreds did with New Money Honey, as the Chad Brown trainee annexed the 2016 $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies stylishly turf under Javier Castellano in a time of 1:34.01.

Bred by WinStar Farm, the athletic daughter of top stud Medaglia d’Oro was a $450,000 purchase at Keeneland’s September 2015 Yearling Sale through agent Mike Ryan and hailed from an enviable family, being out of a full sister to Haskell Invitational winner Any Given Saturday, the sire of 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint champ Mongolian Saturday. Turned over to Brown, the bay filly became the third pupil of the New York-based conditioner to win the Juvenile Fillies Turf in its nine years. Brown had previously won with Lady Eli in 2014 and Maram in 2008 — the latter being the victory that signified Brown’s imminent rise in his first year as a head trainer.

New Money Honey is one of a handful of initial purchases by the Edwards, but she made an early splash in a big way for the operation. In fact, her victories in the Juvenile Fillies Turf and the Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont five weeks prior were two of only six victories from a mere 21 starts up to that point for the stable.

As a 3-year-old, New Money Honey scored her second Grade 1 victory, taking the Belmont Oaks at Belmont Park. She won an optional allowance race at 4, and closed out her career with a second-place finish in the Athenia Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park in October of 2018.

She was subsequently retired and was sent to Indian Creek Farm to begin her broodmare career. Looking back on that glorious day at Santa Anita to the BloodHorse, Edwards recalled,  "It was our first year of racing, going to the Breeders' Cup, and I didn't really even understand what it was. And then our horse wins and I remember standing there and they said, 'Someone wants to take a picture, hold the trophy up.' So I did, and they said, 'No, turn around,' and there was the whole row of photographers lined up on the track and I was blown away by it."