Klaravich Stables’ Grade 1 winner Ways and Means looms large as the 3-5 morning-line favorite in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000GallantBloom Stakes, a 6 1/2-furlong sprintfor fillies and mares at Belmont at the Big A.
Trained by four-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, thesophomore Practical Joke bay earned her first top-level score last out in theseven-furlong Test (G1) on Aug. 3 at Saratoga. There she pressed the pacethrough early fractions of 22.43 and 44.54 seconds before kicking clear nearthe quarter-pole to a 2 1/2-length victory in a final time of 1:22.28.
Click here for Belmont at Aqueduct entries and results.
Brown said Ways and Means has trained well since toward agoal of competing in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint on Nov. 2 at DelMar, including a bullet 48.22-second half-mile last Saturday over the Oklahomadirt training track at the Spa, fastest of 89 workers at the distance.
“She had a great work at Saratoga. She worked really solid,”Brown said. “I think she could use one prep for the Breeders’ Cup.”
Ways and Means made a pair of two-turn attempts to start hercurrent campaign, finishing second to eventual Alabama (G1) winner PowerSqueeze in the 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) in March and fourth in the1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks (G1) won by Thorpedo Anna in May at ChurchillDowns.
After that, Ways and Means cut back to one mile from theWilson chute in a Saratoga allowance June 6 during the Belmont Stakes racing festival.She romped by 8 1/4 lengths despite an awkward break. In the victory she earneda career- and field-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily RacingForm, ahead of the Test.
“She’s doing great and seems to be holding her form good,”Brown said. “She’s in the best shape I’ve ever seen her. She’s really goodright now.”
This summer’s success at the Spa wasn’t a first for Ways andMeans, who graduated on debut there by an eye-catching 12 3/4 lengths in August2023 before a troubled half-length defeat to Brightwork in the Spinaway (G1) lastSeptember.
A Kentucky homebred, Ways and Means is out of Ontario-bredstakes winner Strong Incentive, who also produced Brown-trained andKlaravich-owned Grade 1 victor and multiple graded-stakes winner Surge Capacityalong with graded-stakes winner Highly Motivated.
Flavien Prat will be aboard from post 3.
Hall of Famer Bill Mott will send out an up-and-comingchallenger in Stephen Rousseau’s Nic’s Style in post 2 with Júnior Alvarado andMark Anderson’s seasoned veteran Sterling Silver in post 1 with Irad Ortiz Jr.
Florida-bred Nic’s Style is 3-for-3, all in front-runningfashion, romping in her first two starts at Gulfstream Park for trainer RalphNicks, including a 10 1/4-length, state-bred, optional-claiming score atSunday’s distance in December. That effort came off a layoff since a 41/2-furlong debut win in May 2022.
After the strong gate-to-wire showing at 6 1/2 furlongs, the4-year-old Uncaptured bay did not return until Aug. 17 at Saratoga, where shemade a successful debut for Mott winning a six-furlong allowance by 5 3/4lengths. The pacesetting performance earned a career-best 98 Beyer.
Nic’s Style, a $25,000 purchase at the 2021 Ocala Breeders’Sales October yearling auction, is out of Street Sense mare Sense When, ahalf-sister to stakes-winner Holding Aces. Her second dam is Grade 1-placedWill O Way.
Multiple graded-stakes-placed New York-bred Sterling Silverhas made three starts for Mott, registering her first win in the barn last outin the state-bred Johnstone Mile Handicap on Aug. 7 at the Spa. There the5-year-old Cupid gray stalked in third position before surging to a 93/4-length victory.
In last year’sGallantBloom, Sterling Silver was conditionedby Tom Albertrani. She crossed the wire four lengths in front but wasdisqualified and placed second. For Albertrani she won a trio of state-bredstakes including the local 2022 Franklin Square and 2023 Iroquois as well as the2022 Bouwerie at Belmont Park.
Bred by Mallory Mort and Karen Mort, Sterling Silver is outof unraced Distorted Humor mare Sheet Humor. She was a $13,000 purchase at the2020 Fasig-Tipton select yearling sale and has banked $837,301 through a 25: 8-3-4record.
KEM Stables’ multiple graded stakes-placed Hot Fudge, in post5 with José Lezcano, is 6-for-10 at the Big A and looks to build on that recordfor trainer Linda Rice.
The 5-year-old Liam’s Map dark bay won five straight racesfrom June 2023 to March, tallying the local six-furlong Garland of Roses inDecember, the seven-furlong listed Interborough in January and the six-furlongCorrection in March.
The win streak came to an end with a fifth in theseven-furlong Distaff (G3) on April 6 at Aqueduct. That preceded a pair ofthirds in the Vagrancy (G3) and the Bed o’ Roses (G2).
Most recently, Hot Fudge was a distant third as the favoriteof four horses in the off-the-turf, restricted De La Rose going one mile fromthe Wilson chute on July 31 at Saratoga.
“It was a debacle at Saratoga for her,” Rice said. “We'llget her back on a track that she’s won several stakes races on and at adistance that works best for her. Hopefully we can just draw a line through theSaratoga race.”
The Kentucky-bred mare out of winning Into Mischief dam Noelle’sMischief has banked $562,105 through a 17: 8-1-4 record.
Pacific Rose, in post 4 with Ricardo Santana Jr. rounds out thefield. Owned by California Racing Partners, Ciaglia Racing and Domenic Savides,she looks to make the grade in her fourth attempt. Trained by Jorge Delgado,the sophomore Not This Time dark bay enters from a 1 1/4-length,optional-claiming victory, sprinting six furlongs Sept. 1 at MonmouthPark.
Pacific Rose’s last-out victory earned a career-best 81Beyer, marking her best performance to date in her third start for Delgadoafter making her first seven starts on the West Coast for trainer DougO’Neill.
For O’Neill, Pacific Rose made three graded attempts going 11/16 miles, finishing off the board in the Chandelier (G2) in October and the SantaYsabel (G3) in March at Santa Anita. She had a fifth-place effort in the Starlet(G2) in December at Los Alamitos in between.
The Gallant Bloom at 1:34 p.m. EDT is the second race onSunday’s card. It was reduced to eight races with the one-week postponement ofthe Miss Grillo (G2) because of the waterlogged turf. The first post Sunday isat 1:05 p.m.
2024 Gallant Bloom G2
Post | Silks | Horse / Sire | Rating | Trainer / Jockey | Last Start / Next Start | Morn. Line |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sterling Silver Cupid | 5.67 | Bill Mott Irad Ortiz, Jr. | 1st, 2024 Johnstone Mile RS | 5-1 | |
Last Race | 1st, 2024 Johnstone Mile RS | |||||
2 | Nic's Style Uncaptured | 4.45 | William I. Mott Junior Alvarado | 1st, Sar Allow (8/17/24-R3) | 8-5 | |
Last Race | 1st, Sar Allow (8/17/24-R3) | |||||
3 | Ways and Means Practical Joke | 7.53 | Chad C. Brown Flavien Prat | 1st, 2024 Test G1 | 3-5 | |
Last Race | 1st, 2024 Test G1 | |||||
4 | Pacific Rose Not This Time | 0.00 | Jorge Delgado Ricardo Santana, Jr. | 1st, MTH AOC (09/01/2024-R4) | 20-1 | |
Last Race | 1st, MTH AOC (09/01/2024-R4) | |||||
5 | Hot Fudge Liam's Map | 5.92 | Linda Rice Jose Lezcano | 3rd, 2024 De La Rose LS | 15-1 | |
Last Race | 3rd, 2024 De La Rose LS |