After multiple Grade 2 placings, Evanescence (4f Munnings x Lovely Carina, by Pioneerof the Nile) broke through with a win in Saturday’s Gr.2 Thoroughbred Club of America S. to earn a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Racing over 6 ½ furlongs on the Keeneland dirt, Evanescence took up the running at the back of the main pack as the second to last placed horse down the backstretch. The filly raced two paths wide and moved closer to the leader in the turn before piloted to the outside by Jose Ortiz for a big stretch run. The leader wasn’t slowing down, but Evanescence wasn’t either and gained with every stride. Just before the line, Evanescence got her nose in front and was able to pull ahead by a neck when the pair crossed the line. “She’s been good since the beginning. She’s never run a bad race. She’s never been out of the money. She’s just a big, strong filly that thrives on racing and is getting better,” said trainer Eddie Kenneally. [embed]https://www.twitter.com/FanDuel_Racing/status/2106480025474417145?s=20[/embed] Evanescence has won five of her 12 starts for Green Lantern Stables and has five stakes placings outside of this win – including a pair of Grade 2s. “She loves Keeneland and I think the distance of that race is ideal too. Six-and-a-half (furlongs) today was fine, but I think her best distance is actually seven-eighths. So I think it’s an ideal race for her, and the way she is right now I think she can show up again in a race like that,” Kenneally said about a Breeders’ Cup run. The filly was purchased for $250,000 by her racing owner from Four Star Sales at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2023. Bred by Stud TNT, Evanescence is the first stakes winner out of Pioneeorof the Nile mare Lovely Carina. That mare is a half-sister to Brazilian champion George Washington and Group 1 winner Bonaparte out of the Grade 2 winning Princessa Carina. This page is full of graded stakes winners with Princess Carina a full sister to the Groupe 1 winner Send In the Clowns and half-sister to Grade 2 winner Out of Control and Group 3 winner Notre Dame. The page also includes Grade 1 winners Vitoria Olimpica and No Fear. Evanescence is the seventh stakes winner and second graded stakes winner of the year for Munnings, who has 18 stakes performers overall in 2026.