Chad Brown continued his winning ways in the first graded stakes on the Travers Day card at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. With three horses entered in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa, Brown claimed two of the top three spots, with Viadera taking the stakes for 4-year-olds and up by a nose while Kalifornia Queen finished third.
With a rain shower putting a brief damper on the day's festivities, the field of six broke evenly, with Tamahere, Brown's third starter, taking the lead over Platinum Paynter and Viadera. Tamahere and Platinum Paynter were several lengths ahead early, setting fractions of :22.60 for the first quarter and :47.55 for the first half-mile. As they approached the final turn, Tamahere's lead began to shrink, the field catching up to her as Platinum Paynter dropped back on the turn. Joel Rosario moved Viadera from the rail to the outside of Tamahere, positioning her for her closing run at the leader.
In the stretch, Tamahere looked like she could wire the field, Irad Ortiz, Jr. urging her to keep up the pace. To her inside, High Opinion and Luis Saez were riding the rail, taking advantage of the open lane, while Rosario had Viadera in a drive on Tamahere's outside. The two passed Tamahere and then hooked up inside the last sixteenth of a mile, with Viadera nosing out High Opinion at the wire. Kalifornia Queen, closing fast on Viadera's outside, rounded out the top three with Tamahere, New York Girl, and Platinum Paynter completing the field of six.
The final time for the 1 1/16-mile G2 Ballston Spa was 1:41.82. Find this race's chart here.
Viadera paid $3.60, $2.90, and $2.30. High Opinion paid $5.00 and $3.30. Kalifornia Queen paid $3.00.
“Joel [Rosario] got in really good position this time and made sure there weren't too many horses in front of him in his way when he wanted to make his run. She got a nice, pocketed ground-saving trip, and once again she showed that she knows where the wire is. She's won a couple of close photo finishes now in her career,” Brown said after the race.” She has an affinity for the wire, this horse. If you train horses long enough you'll realize that certain horses know where it is on the winning end and some seem to come up on the losing end. She's one of the ones who knows where it is.”
“I think last time she was coming off a long layoff and the pace didn't work out all that well [fourth in the Faisg-Tipton De La Rose on August 8]. It was better here. She was sharper and I still thought the filly on the inside [High Opinion] probably had momentum on us going to the line, but she just has a way of always getting her nose down on the line,” Garrett O'Rourke, Juddmonte general manager, told the NYRA Press Office after the Ballston Spa. “She keeps winning photo finishes and everyone wants a horse with ability, but that competitive edge is fantastic as well.”
“It was a better trip today with horses being in front and I was able to track there for a little bit. Turning for home, I was clear. She always tries really hard. She's a very good filly,” Rosario said after the race. “At the last minute, I knew the horse was coming inside [High Opinion], but she was so game and fighting going forward, so I was never worried about it, but that horse came very close.”
Bred and owned by Juddmonte Farms, Viadera (GB) is a 5-year-old mare by Bated Breath (GB) out of the Beat Hollow (GB) mare, Sacred Shield (GB). The Ballston Spa is her first win of 2021, following a fourth-place finish in the De La Rose at Saratoga on Aug. 8. Her lifetime record is seven wins in 15 starts for career earnings of $618,641.
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