SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. ⎯ The time appears to be right for Ways and Means to break through on the Grade 1 level.
Coming off a dominant 8¼-length allowance victory at a mile on June 6 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course, the Practical Joke bay filly will look to step up in today’s Grade 1, $500,000 Test Stakes at seven furlongs at the Spa.
Owned by Klaravich Stables and trained by four-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, Ways and Means was sharp as a razor en route to a flashy stalking score last out to earn a field-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure. She returned to the work tab on June 21 and has completed weekly half-mile breezes since, covering the ground in a bullet 47.20 seconds over the Oklahoma dirt track on July 20, fastest of 58 workers at the distance, and completed the same route in 49.21 seconds July 27.
“She’s doing well. We’ve spaced her races out purposefully for this race,” said Brown. “She’s in a good rhythm working. Some speed in there would help her.”
In her June 6 romp, Ways and Means found the winner’s circle for the first time since a dazzling 12¾-length debut score sprinting six furlongs last August at the Spa. She exited to post a troubled runner-up finish to returning foe Brightwork in the seven-furlong Grade 1 Spinaway in September.
Ways and Means made her sophomore debut with a runner-up finish in the Gulfstream Parks Oaks in March before finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 3 at Churchill Downs.
A Kentucky homebred, Ways and Means is out of the Ontario-bred stakes winner Strong Incentive, who also produced the Brown-trained and Klaravich-owned Grade 1-victor and multiple graded stakes-winner Surge Capacity, along with graded-stakes winner Highly Motivated. Flavien Prat has the mount from post 4 aboard the 7-5 morning-line favorite.
Dual Eclipse Award-winner Brad Cox will saddle Stonestreet Stables’ 4-for-5 Emery (post 1, Tyler Gaffalione, 5-2), who rallied to capture the 6½-furlong Grade 3 Victory Ride on July 4 at Belmont at the Big A.
The More Than Ready dark bay enters on a three-race win streak, including a closing victory in the seven-furlong Leslie’s Lady on June 9 at Churchill. The lone loss during her career came in the one-turn mile Grade 1 Frizette in October at Belmont at the Big A, won by eventual Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Just F Y I.
“Classy filly, really easy to deal with. The last few months we’ve thrown a lot at her with (coming) back quick in the Victory Ride, but she responded well,” said Cox. “It is going to be a little quick back to the Test but she is doing it the right way. She’s settling into her races and finishing up.”
Cox will also send out Red White and Blue Racing’s graded stakes-winner Denim and Pearls (post 2, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 7-2) off a distant seventh as the beaten favorite in the Grade 2 Eight Belles on May 3 at Churchill won by returning rival My Mane Squeeze.
Previously, the Into Mischief bay was an eye-catching 9¼-length winner in the seven Grade 2 Beaumont on April 7 at Keeneland, garnering a career-best 96 Beyer. Out of the graded-stakes placed Majestic Warrior mare Majestic Princess, Denim and Pearls, a $500,000 purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, is a full-sister to Grade 1 winner Newgate.
William Butler and WinStar Farm’s Grade 2-winning New York-bred My Mane Squeeze (post 5, Luis Saez, 5-1) looks for her first top-level score after a last-out fourth in the Grade 1 Acorn won by Thorpedo Anna. Trained by Mike Maker, the Audible dark bay entered off a win in the aforementioned Eight Belles over sloppy and sealed footing at the Louisville oval.
My Mane Squeeze’s resume features three state-bred stakes run at Aqueduct Racetrack, including the Maddie May in February and Maid of the Mist in October, both one-turn miles, with the 6½-furlong Franklin Square in between in January.
WSS Racing’s Grade 1 winner Brightwork (post 6, John Velazquez, 6-1) is set to return from an eight-month-plus layoff dating to an off-the-board result in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November at Santa Anita Park.
Trained by John Ortiz, the Outwork bay captured a pair of local graded sprints last summer, including the Spinaway over the heavily-favored Ways and Means, as well as the Grade 3 Adirondack one month prior.
After a 4-for-4 start to her career, Brightwork finished off-the-board in a pair of two-turn efforts ⎯ the Grade 1 Alcibiades in October at Keeneland before the Breeders’ Cup attempt.
“I think it was a little bit the distance and we did ask a lot of her. It is rare to see a 2-year-old break their maiden and make it all the way to the end of the year like that,” said Ortiz. “I’m not concerned she wouldn’t be able to get the distance eventually, I think we squeezed the lemon just a little bit too much at the end of the year.”
Rounding out the field is Jacks or Better Farm’s stakes-winner Belle’s Blue Bell (post 3, Joe Bravo, 20-1) or trainer Carlos David. The Florida-bred Girvin bay most recently won the six-furlong Maryfield on June 29 at Monmouth Park.
Originally Published: August 2, 2024 at 6:45 p.m.
Source link : https://www.saratogian.com/2024/08/02/horse-racing-ways-and-means-seeks-first-graded-score-in-test-stakes/
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Publish date : 2024-08-03 00:07:21
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