George Krikorian's dual Grade 1-winning multimillionaire War Like Goddess will strive for a threepeat in Thursday's 28th running of the $250,000 Glens Falls (G2) for older fillies and mares going 1 1/2 miles over the inner turf at Saratoga Race Course.
A triumph in this year's Glens Falls would put War Like Goddess in the company of horses that have captured as many as three straight editions of a Saratoga stakes race, including Exterminator, who won four straight runnings of the Saratoga Cup in 1919-22; three-time Whitney winner Discovery [1934-36]; and New York-bred Irish Linnet, who won four straight Yaddos from 1992-95.
A 6-year-old English Channel mare, War Like Goddess is no stranger to winning a stakes three times in a row, having captured her third straight win in the 12-furlong Grade 3 Bewitch 12 furlongs in April at Keeneland.
Trained by Hall of Famer and seven-time Glens Falls winning trainer Bill Mott, War Like Goddess boasts a highly consistent 15-10-1-2 record as well as field-high earnings of $2,170,184. Her 4-year-old season included her Bewitch and Glens Falls coups as well as victories in the Grade 3 Orchid at Gulfstream Park and Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational at Saratoga before finishing a close third as the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) at Del Mar.
War Like Goddess made a triumphant return to action during her 5-year-old year in the Bewitch and Glens Falls before finishing second to returning rival Virginia Joy in last year's Flower Bowl. She bested males in the next-out Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational (G1) in October at Belmont at the Big A, registering a career-high 105 Beyer Speed Figure en route to a third-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) at Keeneland.
War Like Goddess enters from an uncharacteristic sixth in the New York (G1) on June 9 going 10 furlongs at Belmont Park, where she tracked about eight lengths behind a moderate pace set by gate-to-wire winner Marketsegmentation.
She breezed a half-mile in :48.48 over the Oklahoma training track on Saturday.
“She seemed to go very well, the breeze was very good,” Mott said. “We're coming off a race that wasn't her best. It was a mile and a quarter, which is a little short for her and there wasn't a lot of pace. I went in knowing it wasn't her favorite distance, but it's the only Grade 1 for fillies on the grass going that distance, so we gave it a try. It didn't work out, but she's doing really well.”
Mott said War Like Goddess thrives at the Spa.
“We can turn her out here, train her late, and we have a lot of flexibility up here, which she likes,” Mott said. “She likes being out. She gets out in the round pen which is a good thing.”
War Like Goddess will leave from post 1 under Joel Rosario.
Trainer Graham Motion will seek his fourth Glens Falls triumph when saddling graded stakes winner Sopran Basilea [post 5, Manny Franco] and multiple graded stakes-placed Vergara [post 7, John Velazquez].
Madaket Stables and William Strauss' Sopran Basilea will make her third stateside start for Motion following a productive career in Italy under the care of her previous conditioner Gallopa Grizetti, for whom she won a pair of group stakes going 1 1/4 miles in 2021. She made her debut for Motion when a late-closing second in a strong edition of the Gallorette (G3) in May at Pimlico Race Course, a race that saw its winner Whitebeam capture the Spa's Diana (G1) next out.
Sopran Basilea, a 5-year-old Night of Thunder chestnut, enters from a narrow triumph over returning rival Ever Summer in the Robert G. Dick Memorial (G3) on July 1 at Delaware Park.
“She's doing really well and I'm very happy with her,” said Motion, who saddled previous Glens Falls victresses Humaita [2004], Rosinka [2007] and Mrs. Sippy [2019]. “She's been a little bit of a surprise for me – I was surprised just how well she ran in the Gallorette going a shorter distance and I was surprised and impressed with her performance the other day at Delaware going a distance that she obviously prefers. I think this is the logical step for her. Usually, the Robert Dick fits in with running the Glens Falls and is a natural progression.”
Gary Broad's Vergara will see added ground, entering from a close third beaten a neck in the Eatontown (G3) on June 17 at Monmouth Park. The 4-year-old Noble Mission bay set an easy early tempo and held command in upper stretch before giving way inside the final sixteenth to one-two finishers Consumer Spending and Surprisingly.
Fifth in the Gallorette in her 2023 debut, Vergara seeks her first win since capturing last year's Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs going 1 5/16 miles.
“She's a lovely filly who has improved, and I think going the longer distances is going to help her,” Motion said.
Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown also unleashes a two-pronged attack with Grade 1-winning millionaire McKulick [post 4, Irad Ortiz Jr.] and last year's Glens Falls third-place finisher Virginia Joy [post 2, Flavien Prat].
Klaravich Stables' McKulick will stretch out following a third-place finish to stablemate and fellow Klaravich color-bearer Marketsegmentation in the New York. This effort came following her lone off-the-board placing in her 2023 debut when fifth in the Modesty (G3) going nine furlongs at Churchill Downs.
The 4-year-old Frankel bay captured two-thirds of last year's fillies' edition of the Turf Triple series, winning the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) over With The Moonlight before finishing second to that rival in the Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G3). She followed with a half-length score in the Jockey Club Oaks Invitational (G3) at Belmont at the Big A.
Peter Brant's German-bred Virginia Joy, a 6-year-old Soldier Hollow bay, will try for her first win since defeating War Like Goddess in last year's Grade 2 Flower Bowl in September at Saratoga.
Virginia Joy joined Brown's stable in 2021, following six starts in her native country for trainer Marcel Weiss which included a Group 3 victory and a third in the Group 1 German Oaks. Last year, she captured the The Very One (G3) at Gulfstream Park before a 14 1/4-length romp over yielding turf in Belmont's Sheepshead Bay (G2).
Four-time Glens Falls winning trainer Christophe Clement will saddle Moyglare Stud Farm's Amazing Grace [post 3, Tyler Gaffalione] who returns to the 1 1/2-mile distance for the first time since capturing her North American debut in Gulfstream's Orchid (G3) in April. The German-bred Protectionist chestnut was fourth in her prior two starts, entering from a start against males in the Belmont Gold Cup (G2) on June 9 at Belmont.
Amazing Grace enjoyed a prosperous campaign in her native land while racing for trainer Waldemar Hickst, including a victory in the T. von Zastrow Stutenpreis (G2) at Baden-Baden before finishing third to next out Breeders' Cup Turf winner Rebel's Romance in the Preis von Europa (G1) at Koln.
Completing the field is Janet Quaintance's Elegant Taste [post 6, Jackie Davis], who makes her turf and stakes debut off a string off three claiming events. The daughter of Oxbow is trained by Lawrence Smith.
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