Grade 1 Winner Viadera Leads Brown Trio in Ballston Spa

Trainer Chad Brown will be represented by the three favorites in search of his sixth triumph in the 33rd running of the $400,000 Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T) on Aug. 28 for older fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles over the Mellon turf at Saratoga Race Course. 

Brown, a three-time leading trainer at the Spa, is the winningest trainer in the Ballston Spa, having saddled Zagora  (2012) and Lady Eli  (2017) to victories en route to champion grass female honors in their respective years, as well as winning with Dacita  (2015), Quidura  (2018), and Significant Form  (2019). 

Juddmonte's Viadera , who arrives off nearly three week's rest, was a troubled fourth as the favorite in the Fasig-Tipton De La Rose Aug. 8 at the Spa, where she made her first start in more than eight months. The 5-year-old daughter of Bated Breath  will try to regain her winning form from last season when she secured three stakes victories, one of which came in the Matriarch Stakes (G1T). 

In the De La Rose last out, Viadera rated at the rear of the field along the rail, checked slightly down the backstretch, and lacked racing room in upper stretch to close late finishing 2 3/4 lengths behind stablemate Regal Glory . 

"She had a lot of trouble last time, but she got something out of it and hopefully can move forward off short rest," Brown said. 

Joel Rosario, the pilot in all five of her North American starts, will retain the mount from post 3. 

Kalifornia Queen , owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, and First Row Partners, arrives off a late-closing second to stablemate Great Island  in the WinStar Matchmaker Stakes (G3T) July 17 at Monmouth Park.  Last year the daughter of Lope de Vega  was a group 2 winner in her native Germany.

"She ran great last time. Cutting her back and taking the blinkers off have done her well," Brown said. 

Kalifornia Queen will leave post 6 under jockey Flavien Prat. 

Swift Thoroughbreds, Madaket Stables, and Wonder Stables' Tamahere  seeks her first victory since capturing her North American debut in the Sands Point Stakes (G2T) last fall at Belmont Park. In four starts since, she has managed two seconds, one of them coming in a grade 1. 

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride Tamahere from post 2.

Woodford Racing and Team D's High Opinion , R Unicorn Stable's New York Girl , and Just In Time Racing's multiple grade 3 stakes-placed Platinum Paynter  complete the six-horse field.

New York Girl arrives off a troubled fourth in an allowance optional claimer Aug. 1 in which Platinum Paynter ran second. In the spring, New York Girl placed in three consecutive graded stakes for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

The Ballston Spa, the first stakes race on Travers Day, goes as the fourth race on a 13-race card. 

Entries: Ballston Spa S. (G2T)

Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, August 28, 2021, Race 4

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• Inner turf
• $400,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 1:17 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1High Opinion (KY)	Luis Saez	118	Anthony W. Dutrow	8/1
2	2Tamahere (FR)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Chad C. Brown	7/2
3	3Viadera (GB)	Joel Rosario	122	Chad C. Brown	8/5
4	4New York Girl (IRE)	John R. Velazquez	118	William I. Mott	6/1
5	5Platinum Paynter (KY)	Jose Lezcano	118	Juan C. Vazquez	10/1
6	6Kalifornia Queen (GER)	Flavien Prat	122	Chad C. Brown	2/1