Getting to Know Watsdachances

Watsdachances walking into the winner's circle after the Beverly D. (Photos by Melissa Bauer-Herzog)
When the decision was made to enter Watsdachances in the Beverly D. co-owner Peter Bradley thought the 5-year-old mare was in the best form of her life. He was right, as she crossed the line a neck behind just one horse but with the disqualification of Secret Gesture from first, she earned her first Grade 1 win and a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Watsdachances and Bradley aren’t strangers to the Breeders’ Cup with Watsdachances finishing second in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and Bradley winning the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Dayatthespa. Let’s take a look at Watsdachances and see how big her chance is in the Breeders’ Cup this year.
Race Résumé
Watsdachances started her career in Ireland, winning her second start by six lengths. That caught the attention of Bradley, who brought her over to the United States and transferred her to trainer Chad Brown. Exactly four months later, Watsdachances won the P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga in her U.S. debut.
That victory was good enough for her connections to send her to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Watsdachances looked like she had a huge chance in the stretch until Flotilla flew by, making her settle for second, 1 ¼ lengths behind.
While Watsdachances has never turned in a bad race, it wasn’t until her third run as a 3-year-old in 2013 that she broke through to the triple digit numbers in the in the Grade 2 Lake George that summer at Saratoga. Finishing only half a length behind Kitten’s Dumplings, Watsdachances earned a 102 speed figure, one she would repeat when earning a second from a disqualification a month later in the Lake Placid over the same track.
After a fourth-place finish in a Grade 1, Watsdachances ended her 3-year-old season in the Summer Secretary stakes where she won her first race since the Ms. Grillo in 2012.
Last year, Watsdachances only race four times. While she ran well each time and never finished worse than fourth, she wasn’t able to get that elusive win and was off from late September until May of this year.
While the Equibase Speed Figures go against the thought that Watsdachances is better this year that the past, her record tells a different story. She won the Grade 3 Gallorette in her first start of the year by a length over Grade 2 winner Emotional Kitten. She left the United States for the first time since moving here when crossing the border to race at Woodbine on July 5 in the Dance Smartly Stakes but her late run wasn’t enough to get her ahead and she finished in second, just a head behind Strut the Course.
That same fate looked to be repeated in the Beverly D. Stakes on August 15 when Watsdachances was as far back as 15 lengths behind the leading Euro Charline and left with the challenge of chasing down the strong pair of Secret Gesture and Stephanie’s Kitten. She was able to catch and pass Stephanie’s Kitten but was only able to get within a neck of Secret Gesture. But before the horses were able to get back to be unsaddled, the stewards started looking at an incident between Secret Gesture and Stephanie’s Kitten that they believed may have cost Stephanie’s Kitten a placing. After a lengthy inquiry, Watsdachances was promoted to first and Stephanie’s Kitten to second with Secret Gesture dropping to third.
2015 BEVERLY D. STAKES

Video courtesy of Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Watsdachances doesn’t have the flashy win resume that you see on some other horses but she is a very consistent mare. In 14 of her 18 starts, she has hit the board (with six victories) and has never finished worse than fourth.
“You’ve got to love this filly because she’s just genuine and tries hard every time,” Bradley said before the Beverly D. “She’d be in my top two or three [favorites] just as far as how much I like her … When a horse gives you everything every race, you’ve got to have a lot of respect for them.”
One thing that has cost Watsdachances a better win record is her running style. She likes to sit back and make a late run, which can be complicated when running in a very full field. While the jockey could technically try to get her up a little closer as she has run from mid-pack in the past, the worry is that it could dull her late race kick and cause her to finish worse than she does now.
Watsdachances will be coming into the Breeders’ Cup with experience over the Keeneland turf course. However, unless trainer Chad Brown sends her to the First Lady Stakes at Keeneland (a move he made with Dayatthespa last year), she’ll be going in without a race at Keeneland since running there in early 2013.
The distance of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf shouldn’t be an issue here as she looks like she could eat up much more ground and the Beverly D. was at the same 1 3/16 mile distance as the Breeders’ Cup.
The potential for a softer course also shouldn’t be a problem as she broke her maiden by six lengths on European soft ground (which is usually softer than that found in the United States) and won over yielding ground at Belmont. In addition, a downpour during the Beverly D. didn’t seem to hurt her much as she still had her closing kick in the rain.
Pedigree
As an Irish-bred, Watsdachances has a pedigree that U.S. racing fans may not recognize. Her sire is the French-bred Diamond Green, a Group 3 winner and multiple Group 1 placed runner in France before running his final handful of races in America. Under the charge of Bobby Frankel over here, Diamond Green’s best results in North America were a pair of third-place finishes in Grade 2 races.
As a sire, Diamond Green has 122 winners from 237 starters according to Equineline but only two stakes winners in his six crops to race (including 2-year-olds). However, Diamond Green does have multiple stakes placed horses as well so he is still throwing class horses. Diamond Green’s best distance was seven furlongs to a mile but we don’t have to worry too much about the distance aspect of what he passed down to Watsdachances as she has proven she can get the Breeders’ Cup distance successfully.
Watsdachances’s dam High Finance never went past a mile during her career but won at the distance as a 3-year-old. She has two winners from her three foals to race with her other winner racing in Spain. Her third starter was placed in Ireland at seven furlongs.
However, when you look farther back into her pedigree, Watsdachances isn’t the only stakes winner in her female line with 15 others winning stakes and six of those winning graded or group stakes, including a New Zealand 1,000 Guineas winner and a South African champion. Another 12 of her family members were good enough to find the board in stakes races with nearly everyone under her third and fourth dam at least placing in a stakes race.
When I talked to Peter Bradley before the Beverly D. and asked if they’d go to the Breeders’ Cup if she won the Beverly D. he said that there’d be very little chance they wouldn’t go to the Breeders’ Cup if they got the Win and You’re In berth.
WATSDACHANCES PADDOCK SCHOOLING BEFORE THE BEVERLY D.

While Watsdachances is in the best form of her life this year, I think a lot of factors must click into place for her to win against the field that will be assembled in the Filly and Mare Turf. However, I do think she’ll be able to get another Breeders’ Cup placing this year in the race.
If Watsdachances were to win or hit the board in the Breeders’ Cup, it would be a fitting end to the Michael Kisber, Bradley Thoroughbreds and Nelson McMakin partnership that was put together early in Watsdachances’ career. The partnership ends at the end of 2015 and it’s planned for Watsdachances to be sold in one of the Kentucky November sales the week after the Breeders’ Cup, where it is probable someone will buy her to breed instead of race.