Hall of Fame - Evanescent

Original article written by Dan Gordon posted 14 years 3 weeks ago

In real life, Lost in the Fog won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Sprint Horse in 2005 and was 10-for-10 before finishing a disappointing 7th in the Breeder’s Cup Sprint. In the SIM, Lost in the Fog sired an impressive filly who Brianna McKenzie named Evanescent, who mirrored her father’s impressive real life resume in many ways in Years 18 through 20. As an aside, Evanescent’s name made me check the dictionary and it means "tending to vanish like vapor". So the SIM is both fun and educational!

On the dam side, Evanescent was the daughter of Era, by Satelite and owned by Eric Nalbone, who was named Champion Female Sprinter by winning 7 out of 9 (with a nose loss to Villian in the Steward’s Cup Sprint), so the stars were aligned for success for Evanescent. Brianna explained how she came to own Evanescent. “"Eve" as I always called her came to be when I was looking for major high profile mares to bred to Lost in the Fog who I owned in the sim and who wouldn't be around forever because of the real life drama. Eric Nalbone had a mare who fit the bill in Era and we swapped, I took the Era breeding and he took my turn breeding Piece of the Moon the following year (Unfathomed). The swap turned out very well for each of us, with both of us getting a SC winning filly out of the deal. We have since swapped foals from those foals, giving me Bomb Shell and him Trigger.”

Entered in a stakes race in her first race in Week 5 of her two year old campaign, Evanescent didn’t disappoint. She won by 10 lengths covering 5 furlongs in a blazing 57.53 seconds. Stretching out to 6 furlongs, she won just as impressively in the Desert Vixen Stakes winning by a 7 ¾ length margin. The competition got stiffer as she then had to beat Dance Amore in the Two Year Old Sprint Elimination Race with 3 lengths now the margin and finally capped it off with a 1 ¾ length win in the Sprint Championship over two superstar colts, Hemi Cuda and Cosmanaut. Those two horses she defeated were legendary in their own rites as Hemi Cuda was 10 for 14 lifetime and Cosmanaut was 12 for 15. How thrilling was this for Brianna? “I always had high hopes for Eve but that first race blow out was when I knew she was a Sprint Trials kinda horse which she did end up winning. The Sprint Championship is easily the biggest and most important race to win for a young sprinter, the thrill of winning it never grows old and I'm constantly looking for the next one good enough to go there.”

Clearly, Brianna only had to set the road for the Steward’s Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in Evanescent’s three year old campaign. After two stakes’ wins by a combined 18 lengths, Evanescent got her first stretch drive challenge in the Vagrancy, holding off Liefde by one-half length. It was foreboding as it was her first race over six furlongs (the Vagrancy is 6 ½) and her lone defeat then came in the 7 furlong Steward’s Cup race. In that race, she dueled the entire way and was beaten by her half sister, A Map to Heaven. How disappointed was Brianna? “Eve's prep race before her 3 year old SC race is without a doubt the toughest race she ever went. The fillies she beat there were just monsters and she was brilliant in beating them. Unfortunately this took just a little bit too much zip out of her and 3 weeks later she was narrowly beaten by some very good fillies. The winner was deserving and Eve ran her heart out, I was very proud of her as always.”

Redemption would be hers in Evanescent’s four year old campaign though. Three big stakes victories by a combined 17 ½ lengths had her peaking for her final race – the Steward’s Cup Filly and Mare Sprint once again. Her rival A Map to Heaven was there as well as some new stars, Laura Ferguson’s Phantom Escapade and Gabby O’Toole’s Amor Vincit Omnia. It was the latter who dueled her from the start but Evanescent prevailed by one length and never let the closers get to her. Brianna said “I prepped her week 12 the next year having learned my lesson to give her that little bit extra rest required for her to get that extra distance which I admit probably wasn't her best game.” This capped off her Hall of Fame career. The final tally, 11 wins in 12 races and total earnings of $2,175,000.

If there is any disappointment, it might be that is that her progeny hasn’t achieved her greatness. She produced two stakes winners in Flares, by Inspired Strike, and Admires, by Sic Transit Gloria, but neither earned over $400,000. However, she has a two year old colt by Inspired Doxa and a yearling filly by Goodguyswearblack that may still be champions. Brianna’s thoughts on this, “We put a lot of expectations on a superstar mare to produce foals that are just like her, but it's nearly impossible. Eve's foals are all winged (all the ones I've galloped anyway) and are solid racehorses, yes they pale in comparison to her, but without trying to sound snobby about 98% of all sprinters do. Eve has the fastest and second fastest 3f works EVER as well as the fastest 2f work. Fillies like her are so very rare, and although I've had a lot of really great mares over the years Eve is no doubt the fastest one.”

The Hall of Fame induction was well deserved as one would be hard pressed to name a greater filly sprinter.

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