War Like Goddess Beats Boys in Joe Hirsch Turf Classic

War Like Goddess  made history in the $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1T) Oct. 8 at Aqueduct Racetrack and paved the way for her to potentially make more during the upcoming Breeders' Cup World Championships next month.

George Krikorian's 5-year-old daughter of English Channel, who is trained by Bill Mott, handily beat six male challengers in the 1 1/2-mile Turf Classic and will now be aimed for Nov. 5 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at the same distance at Keeneland.

Already a grade 1 winner at 1 3/8 miles and a two-time graded stakes winner at 12 furlongs, War Like Goddess was given a patient, stalking ride by Jose Lezcano. They tracked easily behind pacesetter Bye Bye Melvin  and longshot Astronaut  until the top of the stretch where she rolled easily to the lead to win by 2 3/4 lengths. Bye Bye Melvin hung on for second and 67-1 Astronaut was third by a nose over Rockemperor . The final time was 2:27.29.

"The filly is very easy to ride. She broke very good, and I moved her up a little more than I wanted to, but she seemed a little quiet, so I moved her up a little more," Lezcano said. "I wanted position at the start of the race, and the 1 (Bye Bye Melvin) and the 4 (Astronaut) went, so I sat right there. I stepped aside and stayed there the whole way around. It was very easy to get there, there were only seven horses.

"She's a very nice mare, and she does everything right. When I asked her, she gave me her race. She's a very good horse. When you ride a horse for Billy, you've always got a chance to win this kind of race," he said.

Jockey Feargal Lynch, aboard Bye Bye Melvin, said he was proud of the performance by Alex Campbell Jr.'s 5-year-old son of Uncle Mo  , who is trained by Graham Motion.

"He was picking it up and doing everything right. We just got run down by a nice horse," Lynch said. "He kept galloping all the way. He's a good horse, and he belongs here. I'm just happy he showed how good he is."

War Like Goddess, the 4-5 favorite, improved her record to 5-for-5 at 1 1/2 miles. The last female to win the Joe Hirsch was the brilliant All Along, who prevailed in 1983 when the stakes was last contested at Aqueduct and was known as the Turf Classic. The list of distaff victors also includes April Run, Anifa, and Waya.

Now she gets the chance to join an exclusive club of females that won the Breeders' Cup Turf. Club members include Pebbles (1985), Miss Alleged (1991), Found  (2015), Enable  (2018), and Tarnawa  (2020).  

"I always thought she belonged," said Mott of taking War Like Goddess to the Turf. "There's good horses and she could get outrun, but I think she deserves an opportunity, for sure. I don't think we're out of line whatsoever. We're a long ways from the winner's circle, but I think she deserves her opportunity. She's done nothing wrong."

War Like Goddess was bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm out of the North Light  winner Misty North . The mare has a 2-year-old by Bal a Bali   named North of Bali and was bred to Curlin   this year.