SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The availability of the turf course Sunday at Saratoga will be the key for 11 3-year-olds entered to go 5 1/2 furlongs on grass in the $150,000 Mahony Stakes.
With the local area inundated by rain on Thursday and Friday, chances are the Mahony may ultimately be destined for the main track, especially considering that the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap and Saratoga Derby Invitational, both of which were postponed from Saturday’s card, will have top priority should the turf be open for business at all.
In addition, turf sprints are generally considered to potentially do more damage than route races to a course carrying moisture, which figures to be the case even with clear skies forecast over the weekend.
At first glance, a switch in venue for the Mahony would seem to favor trainer Wesley Ward’s Baraye, who is the lone member of the field entered for the main track only. But her status was uncertain, considering Ward has the option of running the 3-year-old filly against other fillies Saturday in the $150,000 Galway Stakes. As of Friday, that race seemed even more likely to be taken off the grass due to the wet conditions.
Baraye is coming off a 5 3/4-length, second-level allowance and optional-claiming victory in a race switched from turf to a sloppy main track on May 26 at Churchill Downs. The performance earned her a career-best 90 Beyer Speed Figure. The versatile daughter of Midshipman also won an off-the-turf maiden special weight race against males at Churchill during the fall of her 2-year-old campaign.
Ward said he will weigh his options before making a final decision on which of the two races Baraye will participate in this weekend.
“I didn’t enter her main track only in the stakes on Saturday, but I only planned on running her there in the event that race came off the grass as well,” Ward noted. “She does love the mud, that’s for certain, and she’s really improved as she’s gotten older. She was kind of a bulldog when I had her as a yearling, but she’s really matured and grown into herself now.”
Baraye is one of only three members of the Mahony lineup to have had any real success on dirt, along with American Rascal and Works for Me, who had been entered in an entry-level turf allowance race on Friday’s canceled program.
American Rascal won his career debut, by 10 1/4 lengths, and the Zia Juvenile in similarly easy fashion, on dirt as a 2-year-old. He tried grass for the first time here last month, finishing a non-threatening fourth in the Grade 3 Quick Call.
Works for Me has registered all three of his career wins on the main track, including the Notebook Stakes for New York-breds in his 2-year-old finale and a statebred allowance event by 3 1/4 lengths in his most recent start on June 27 at Aqueduct. That race had originally been scheduled for the turf.
Should the Mahony manage to stay on the grass, it will reunite Mansa Musa and Fandom, the second- and third-place finishers, respectively, behind the odds-on Star of Mystery in the Quick Call.
Mansa Musa earned a career-high 100 Beyer when easily second best in the Quick Call while making just his fourth start since being transferred to trainer Bill Mott’s barn at the beginning of the season. The Quick Call was the second start for Mana Musa since being equipped with blinkers prior to an allowance win against older horses here on Belmont Stakes weekend.
The lightly raced Fandom, who became graded stakes-placed in only his fourth lifetime start in the Quick Call, will put blinkers back on for his potential rematch with Mansa Musa. He has made both previous starts this season without the equipment after racing in blinkers at 2.
Five other members of the field come into the race off victories over turf or synthetic surfaces. That group consists of Apollo Ten, who captured the My Frenchman Stakes at Monmouth Park; Yellow Card, an impressive allowance winner at Churchill Downs; Howard Wolowitz, a well-graded maiden winner over the Tapeta at Gulfstream Park; Reef Runner; and Run Carson. The speedy, multiple stakes winner No Nay Mets completes the well-matched lineup.
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