West Point Thoroughbreds and Dream With Me Stable's Parnac will attempt to replicate a last-out front-running score in the Grade 2 Flower Bowl when she takes on Grade 1-winner McKulick for the second straight time in the 20th running of Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Fasig-Tipton Waya for fillies and mares 3-years-old and upward going 1 3/8 miles over the inner turf at the Belmont at the Big A meet at Aqueduct racetrack in South Ozone Park, N.Y.
Carded as Race 3, the Waya is one of six graded stakes events scheduled for Saturday's action-packed program. The card is headlined by a pair of Grade 1 events which carry Breeders' Cup “Win And You're In” status in the $500,000 Champagne – a qualifier for the Grade 1 Juvenile – and the $400,000 Frizette – a qualifier for the Grade 1 Juvenile Fillies. Also featured on the day are a rescheduled edition of the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic as well as the Grade 3, $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint and the Grade 3, $500,000 Jockey Club Derby.
Parnac, a Christophe Clement-trained French-bred daughter of Zarak, displayed newfound front-running dimensions in the Flower Bowl on Sept. 2 over the Spa's inner turf where she led through every point of call and staved off McKulick's late rally to win by 1 1/4 lengths under jockey Dylan Davis. This effort followed a close third in the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial on July 1 over soft ground at Delaware Park and a Belmont Park allowance score on June 11 going the Waya distance.
Despite racing on an uncontested lead in the Flower Bowl, Clement said the win was no fluke.
“They all say that she stole the race, I completely disagree,” Clement said. “She trained very well, looked very good and had a great ride. In the last four furlongs, nobody could catch her. She ran a really good race and I was happy.”
Davis, who recently guided Clement-trained juvenile Carson's Run to a prominent score in the Grade 1 Summer at Woodbine, will retain the mount aboard Parnac from post 3.
“It's fun. It's working out for Dylan and it's working out for me,” Clement said.
Klaravich Stables' McKulick will be out for revenge after finishing a late-rallying second in the Flower Bowl for trainer Chad Brown, who will attempt his record-extending seventh Waya conquest. The 4-year-old Frankel filly chased a slow pace when racing an even third down the backstretch of the Flower Bowl, but could not mow down Parnac.
Prior to this effort, she defeated Grade 1-winning multimillionaire War Like Goddess in the Grade 2 Glens Falls on August 3 at Saratoga. McKulick is the lone Grade 1-winner in the field, taking last year's Belmont Oaks Invitational at Belmont Park two starts before capturing the Grade 3 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational going 11 furlongs at Belmont at the Big A.
Irad Ortiz, Jr., who has been aboard for 10-of-12 starts on McKulick, retains the mount from post 5.
Brown also entered Klaravich Stables-owned Idea Generation [post 1, Florent Geroux], an Irish-bred Dubawi sophomore whose lone victory took place in a 1 1/16-mile maiden event last November at Aqueduct. This year, she was a distant second to stable mate Chili Flag in a first level allowance test on July 9 at Belmont before finishing seventh in the Virginia Oaks on Sept. 9 at Colonial Downs.
Trainer Graham Motion will saddle a pair of contenders in Team Valor International's Romagna Mia [post 2, Manny Franco] and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Sister Otoole [post 6, Feargal Lynch].
Romagna Mia, a 4-year-old Mastercraftsman gray, made her North American debut for Motion when third in the Grade 1 Beverly D. on August 12 at Colonial Downs and earning an 88 Beyer. Initially campaigned in Italy, Romagna Mia last found the winner's circle in the final start of her sophomore season when capturing the Group 2 Premio Lydia Tesio last October going 10 furlongs at Capannelle, where she defeated eventual North American graded stakes winner Sopran Basilea by a neck.
After finishing eighth in the Group 1 The Amir Trophy in February in Qatar, she was briefly campaigned in France where she made three starts and finished out of the money each time before joining the stable of Motion, who said Romagna Mia has trained forwardly into the Waya.
“I think she's improved since then. I hadn't had her for very long,” said Motion. “I'm pretty high on this filly. She really has done nothing wrong. I thought it was a really good effort for her at Colonial and I think she'll appreciate the added ground. I'm a little concerned about the weather because we don't feel she could handle soft ground.”
Sister Otoole enters from a repeat score in the listed CTT and TOC at Del Mar. The Florida-bred daughter of Amira's Prince has placed at graded stakes level over three different courses when third in the Grade 3 Dowager last October at Keeneland and second in both the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial last July at Delaware Park and the Grade 3 Maple Leaf in November 2021 at Woodbine.
“She's remarkable,” Motion said. “She's pretty tough to train in the mornings, so we train her in the field here a lot. Yet, in her races, she's very relaxed and is a real solid campaigner. She always tries.”
Completing the field is Joseph Allen's Kentucky homebred Personal Best [post 4, Javier Castellano], who strives for her first triumph since her 4-year-old debut in the Grade 3 La Prevoyante on January 28 going 12 furlongs at Gulfstream Park. Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, the 4-year-old Tapit gray, out of the Grade 1-winning War Front mare War Flag, broke her maiden at fifth asking last September at Kentucky Downs two starts before defeating winners here going the Waya distance.
Movie Moxy and Peak Popularity have been entered for main track only.
The Waya honors Peter Brant and George Strawbridge, Jr.'s 1979 Champion Older Mare, who captured three Grade 1 wins during her Eclipse Award-winning season in the Santa Barbara at Santa Anita, the Top Flight at Aqueduct, and the Beldame at Belmont Park. The previous year, she defeated males in the Grade 1 Man o' War at Belmont, while also winning that year's Turf Classic and Flower Bowl. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019. .
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