Bright Future

Bright Future, a son of Hall of Famer Curlin owned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, won his first career start on March 19, 2022, taking a one-turn mile maiden race at Gulfstream Park by 4 ¾ lengths.

The late-blooming 3-year-old only made one more start in 2022, finishing third in a June allowance optional claiming race at Belmont Park, but returned after a break of over nine months and showed no rust whatsoever in winning another one-mile race at Gulfstream by 2 ¼ lengths on April 1, 2023. He then ran a good third in a one-turn mile allowance race at Churchill Downs in May before being stretched out to two turns and elevated to stakes company in the 1 ½-mile, Grade 2 Brooklyn Handicap June 10 at Belmont Park. Unfortunately, Bright Future was taken out of the race early and eased to finish eighth of 10.

The 4-year-old colt returned July 21 at Saratoga Race Course and turned in his best performance to date, dominating a 1 1/8-mile allowance optional claiming race by 4 ¾ lengths. That convinced his connections to try Grade 1 company, and he made his fifth start of the year in the $1 million Jockey Gold Cup Stakes Sept. 2 at Saratoga.

After pressing the early pace, Bright Future opened up on the field in early stretch and was kept to task by jockey Javier Castellano as Grade 1 winner Proxy closed with a rush. He held on to win the prestigious 1 ¼-mile race by a nose and earn an automatic berth in the $6 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic Nov. 4.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Kentucky-bred Bright Future is out of the winning and Grade 3-placed Bellamy Road mare Sophia’s Song, a relative to two-time champion sprinter Housebuster.