Klaravich Stables' 'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke) looked like a winner every step of the way with a comfortable victory as the 3-5 favorite in Saturday's GI Test Stakes at Saratoga.
First to break the line for Flavien Prat, the homebred filly led through the opening exchanges, but was ultimately content to allow the rail-skimming Emery (More Than Ready) to come through and take up the running through fractions of :22.43 and :44.54 over the sealed, muddy main track. Held together into the final 2 1/2 furlongs, Ways and Means claimed Emery with consummate ease in upper stretch and kept on nicely to score by 2 1/2 lengths in the finish. Emery was a clear second ahead of My Mane Squeeze (Audible) in third.
A jaw-dropping, double-digit debut winner at the Spa last summer, Ways and Means was sidelined after finishing a troubled second in the GI Spinaway Stakes on closing weekend. She was unlucky again in her first start off the bench to finish second as the heavy favorite in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks Mar. 30 and tired to fourth after sitting right on a hot pace in the GI Kentucky Oaks. She shortened up to a mile with a dominating first-level allowance win with a field-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure during the Belmont Stakes festival last time June 6.
“We always knew she was a true Grade I horse and has had some bad luck along the way,” winning trainer Chad Brown said. “She really showed a lot of heart and perseverance to overcome her injury last year and she dealt with a sealed track today, too. We weren't sure if she was going to like it, but she really showed up for us today. That Kentucky Oaks when it had a wet track was a little tough to figure out. It was a mile and an eighth and I really think she breezed too fast the week before the race and she ran into a monster horse [Thorpedo Anna].”
Brown continued, “Cutting back has been key for her. She definitely has an affinity to one-turn races and Saratoga. She showed that when she broke her maiden so impressively here. Really her only defeat at Saratoga was in the Spinaway when she had a ton of trouble, clipped heels and actually got seriously injured in the race. Fortunately, she was able to come back from it. She was all class and Flavien [Prat] gets along with her so well. I thought he did a really good job to assert himself early and from there she really had no excuse with that trip.”
As for what's next, Brown added, “I'm really interested in working backwards from the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. She's going to have to face older horses in that race, but she showed today that she does good with good spacing between her races. She runs so fast and hard. I don't think she needs to run much between now and then. Maybe one start.”
Brightwork (Outwork), who defeated Ways and Means in last year's Spinaway over the same course and distance, was scratched from what would have been her first start as a 3-year-old. Brightwork reared up and flipped in the paddock and landed on her side, resulting in minor abrasions. She was scratched as a precaution.
Pedigree Notes:
Ways and Means becomes the third North American Grade I winner for Practical Joke and 10th worldwide. Practical Joke, a three-time GISW, including Saratoga's GI Hopeful Stakes and GI H. Allen Jerkens S., was campaigned by Seth Klarman in partnership with William H. Lawrence.
The same partnership campaigned her Ontario-bred dam, Strong Incentive (Warrior's Reward), who registered a career high in Woodbine's Jammed Lovely S. She brought $2.15 million from Alpha Delta Stables in foal to Good Magic at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale.
Ways and Means is the third graded winner from her dam, who is also responsible for Klaravich's graded winner Highly Motivated (Into Mischief) and Grade I victress Surge Capacity (Flintshire {GB}).
She produced a filly by Good Magic in 2024 and was bred back to Into Mischief.
“Anything with a homebred is extra special, and she's got a brother and sister [Highly Motivated and Surge Capacity], who are also phenomenal performers,” Klarman said. “It's her first stakes win even though she's done so much, and to win not just a Grade I, but the Test, is extremely special.”
Brown added, “The Klarmans are such wonderful clients of mine. They owned and I trained both the father and the mother of this horse and we don't breed many horses, so we decided to take a chance on this mare because we really liked her and she's been so good to us. [Ways And Means] looks a lot like Practical Joke–almost a spitting image.”
WAYS AND MEANS, 3YO daughter of @coolmorestud stallion Practical Joke, wins the Grade 1 Test pres. by @Ticketmaster for Flavien Prat and Chad Brown! pic.twitter.com/Bf8KEE6WE5
— NYRA (🎪) (@TheNYRA) August 3, 2024
Saturday, Saratoga
TEST S. PRESENTED BY TICKETMASTER-GI, $485,000, Saratoga, 8-3, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:22.28, my.
1–WAYS AND MEANS, 118, f, 3, by Practical Joke
1st Dam: Strong Incentive (SW, $123,568),
by Warrior's Reward
2nd Dam: G G's Dolly, by Comic Strip
3rd Dam: Parfait, by Kingmambo
'TDN Rising Star'. 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES
WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. O/B-Klaravich Stables (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown; J-Flavien Prat. $275,000. Lifetime Record: 6-3-2-0,
$569,500. *1/2 to Surge Capacity (Flintshire {GB}), GISW,
$547,100 and Highly Motivated (Into Mischief), GSW,
$667,375. Werk Nick Rating: A++.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Emery, 120, f, 3, by More Than Ready
1st Dam: Athena (MSW, $459,222), by Street Sense
2nd Dam: Race Rocks (Ire), by Rock of Gibraltar (Ire)
3rd Dam: Artful Pleasure, by Nasty and Bold
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($235,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV).
O-Stonestreet Stables LLC; B-Mary K. Grum (KY); T-Brad H. Cox.
$100,000.
3–My Mane Squeeze, 122, f, 3, by Audible
1st Dam: In Spite of Mama, by Speightstown
2nd Dam: Mama Theresa, by Carson City
3rd Dam: Nothing Special, by Tejabo
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-William J. Butler and WinStar Farm LLC;
B-William Butler (NY); T-Michael J. Maker. $60,000.
Margins: 2HF, 2, HF. Odds: 0.70, 4.00, 4.60.
Also Ran: Denim and Pearls, Belle's Blue Bell. Scratched: Brightwork.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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