SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Scylla and Hope Road seek to find their best form in what may be their best opportunity to achieve a Grade 1 victory when the two head a field of female sprinters in Saturday’s $500,000 Ballerina at Saratoga.
Scylla, a 5-year-old daughter of Tapit trained by Bill Mott, finished second in last year’s Ballerina and later was fourth, beaten just one length by longshot Soul of an Angel in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
She is winless in three starts this year, but there are legitimate excuses. In her first race of the year, she caught a sloppy track in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff, where she was fourth to a razor-sharp Kopion. No one was a match for Ways and Means in the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses at Saratoga, a race in which Scylla finished second, 7 3/4 lengths back. Scylla caught another sloppy track in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss run at six furlongs.
“I’ll like her a whole lot better if we get a dry, fast racetrack,” said Bill Mott, the trainer of Scylla. “Seven-eighths is better than the six furlongs. She’s doing well. Without the obvious horse Ways and Means in there, it opens the race up and gives some of the horses a shot.”
Ways and Means was not entered in the Ballerina due to a fever.
Scylla will break from post 6 in what will be an eight-horse field. Mystic Lake, who drew the rail, will scratch as she was scheduled to run in Friday night’s $250,000 Pink Ribbon Stakes at Charles Town.
Flavien Prat, who would have ridden Ways and Means, will ride Scylla.
Hope Road is in from Southern California for Bob Baffert, who has twice won the Ballerina, including in 2018 with Hope Road’s mother, Marley’s Freedom. Hope Road, by Quality Road, went 4 for 5 in 2024 but is winless in three starts this year. She twice ran second to Kopion, including a three-length defeat in a swiftly run Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs.
Baffert wheeled Hope Road back in 23 days in the Grade 3 Winning Colors, where she finished third as the 4-5 favorite.
“I think she didn’t bring her A game that day because she ran so hard in the other one,” Baffert said. “She took a step back, bringing her back that quick.
Baffert brought Hope Road back to Southern California, where she has worked 10 times, the last four being all six-furlong drills.
“We’re not coming to the county fair to run,” Baffert said. “It is Saratoga.”
Jose Ortiz rides Hope Road from the outside post.
Last year, Zeitlos finished fifth, beaten one length, in the Grade 3 Caress Stakes on turf and came back to win the Open Mind Stakes on dirt at Churchill. Last month, Zeitlos was beaten a half-length by Future Is Now in the Grade 3 Caress. She now goes back to the dirt in the Ballerina.
“I thought it was ideal,” Steve Asmussen, the trainer of Zeitlos, said about her effort in the Caress. “She’s a Curlin, she’s unbelievably versatile.”
Zeitlos will break from post 6. Junior Alvarado is names to ride.
The New York-bred My Mane Squeeze was a front-running winner of the Johnstone Stakes going seven furlongs here on July 30. My Mane Squeeze is a two-time graded winner and finished third behind Ways and Means in last year’s Grade 1 Test at seven furlongs.
Luis Saez rides My Mane Squeeze from post 7.
Halina’s Forte is 2 for 2 at Saratoga. At 3, she won the off-the-turf Galway Stakes and last month she took advantage of a fast pace and a wet track that she relishes to rally from last to win the Grade 2 Honorable Miss. Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. that day, she will be ridden by Joel Rosario on Saturday.
Ortiz has taken the call on Claret Beret for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. In two starts for Joseph, Claret Beret won an overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park by 19 3/4 lengths before finishing second to Vahva in the Grade 2 Chicago at Churchill. Vahva was favored in Friday night’s Pink Ribbon.
Brightwork is 3 for 3 at Saratoga, having beaten Ways and Means in the Grade 1 Spinaway in 2023. She won the Grade 3 Prioress here at 3 but is winless in two starts this year.
Majestic Oops, trained by Dan Ward, won three consecutive races between Oaklawn Park and Monmouth Park before finishing second to Randomized in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher going 1 1/16 miles at Monmouth. She has not run around one turn since a second-place finish in an allowance race at Oaklawn in January.
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