Virginia Joy Pulls Off Flower Bowl Theft
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Frontrunning Virginia Joy holds off War Like Goddess to win the Flower Bowl Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
On the first Saturday of September—or the last Saturday of the 153rd season of racing at Saratoga Race Course, if you prefer—there was a subtle reminder given as the summer winds began their final descent into fall.
The ghosts of days gone by at the Spa just gave a little nudge to let everyone know that this grand old horse park is still the Graveyard of Favorites. The suggestion was this: if you're a big favorite in a big race at Saratoga, all bets are off.
Welcome to the 45th running of the $600,000 Flower Bowl Stakes (G2T), where the horse expected to win did not. George Krikorian's War Like Goddess , who had put together a marvelous resume with eight wins in 10 starts (including last year's Flower Bowl), would not find the winner's circle as she looked to defend her title on the late afternoon of Sept. 3.
She was sent off at the lopsided odds of 1-5, which is a sure sign of doom if you go by the history of this place.
Sure enough, War Like Goddess had to settle for second in the 1 3/8-mile race on the inner turf course. This was not an upset that shook the rafters like when Secretariat or American Pharoah were defeated, but it raised eyebrows just the same.
The winner of the Flower Bowl—which was downgraded from a grade 1 last year—was Virginia Jo y, a 5-year-old mare trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.
The strategy was simple for this one. Go to the lead, slow it down, and take your chances. It worked to perfection.
Virginia Joy shows the way past the clubhouse for the first time
"It was a comfortable lead," said Ortiz, the meet's leading rider, who won four races Saturday. "That was the plan. Make the lead and make it as slow as I can. It worked out good."
It was too good. Brown, sitting up in his box seat, must have been doing cartwheels inside as he watched Virginia Joy and Ortiz carve out fractions of :26.47, :53.29, and 1:19.59.
"There wasn't any speed in the race," Brown said. "She had already won a nice race earlier in the season going wire-to-wire, so I told Irad, 'Why don't you just put her on the lead? Unless somebody goes crazy, just put her out there and just see how far she'll go.'"
Virginia Joy, a daughter of Soldier Hollow owned by Peter Brant, took the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2T) on a yielding course at Belmont Park May 22 by 14 1/2 lengths. In her last start, she was no match for War Like Goddess when third in the 1 1/2-mile Glens Falls Stakes (G2T) Aug. 6.
Brown and Brant continued their mastery of the Flower Bowl. This was a record sixth training win for Brown and the fifth—also a record—for Brant.
The victory was also worth a Breeders' Cup Challenge berth into the $2 million Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) at Keeneland Nov. 5.
"We'll see," Brown said about the Breeders' Cup. "The races get harder as you start to put the grade 1s next to them. She's a quality horse and probably deserves consideration after today."
Virginia Joy heads to the winner's circle
War Like Goddess, trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott and ridden by Joel Rosario, had been able to overcome slow-pace scenarios in her last two races to win, but could not do it in the Flower Bowl, when she only shoot loose from traffic at the head of the lane.
Rosario kept a firm hold on the daughter of English Channel , who was near the back of the six-horse field traveling over the firm track. She began making a run at the three-sixteenths pole and was rolling at the sixteenth pole, but it was too little, too late. Virginia Joy won by a neck.
"As they came by the stands the first time, they were slowing it down, slowing it down, slowing it down," Mott said. "By that time, (Rosario) was getting a ground-saving trip. I'm not sure if he had an opportunity to maybe let her pick up horses, and I think there was maybe one point where he did, but he opted not to do it.
"She came flying," he added. "I don't know how fast she came home, but she was rolling. She got right to (Virginia Joy's) hip, and the other one had something left."
Virginia Joy's connections enjoy the trophy presentation for the Flower Bowl Stakes
The final time was 2:19.51, influenced by the sluggish pace and well off the course record of 2:11.46. Virginia Joy, the second choice at 9-2, paid $11.80. She was bred in Germany by Gestut Auenquelle out of the Doyen mare Virginia Sun and came to Brown's barn in April of 2021. Since then, she has won four times in eight outs for a 6-2-2 career record from 14 starts, with earnings of $845,557.
War Like Goddess finished 1 1/4 lengths in front of Coastana , who was followed home by Temple City Terror , Flanigan's Cove, and Marvelous Maude . Capital Structure was scratched.