Cavorting Drops a Level to Prioress

Grade I winner Cavorting will drop a level to contest the $300,000 Prioress Stakes (gr. II) as the season at Saratoga Race Course draws to an end, but the Aug. 8 Longines Test Stakes (gr. I) victress could have her work cut out for her in a field of 11 3-year-old fillies.  

With grade II winner Ekati's Phaeton coming in off the layoff, Miss Woodford Stakes winner Fusaichi Red looking to step up in company, and multiple grade III winner Irish Jasper hoping to improve upon a fourth in the Test, the six-furlong Prioress is loaded with intrigue.

The Test was the first grade I victory for Cavorting, a Stonestreet Stables' Bernardini   filly who entered off a victory in the June 5 Jersey Girl Stakes for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. Cavorting had shown her talent before, with a win in the 2014 Adirondack Stakes (gr. II) as a juvenile. She is 2-for-2 on the Saratoga surface. Irad Ortiz rides from post 10 as part of a 122-pound co-highweight assignment.

Ekati's Phaeton will also carry 122 in her first start since the May 1 Eight Belles Stakes (gr. III), in which she ran 11th. Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott saddles the Tale of Ekati   runner, who took the Davona Dale Stakes (gr. II) and the Old Hat Stakes (gr. III) earlier this season at Gulfstream Park. This will be the initial Saratoga outing for the Mott trainee, who leaves post 2 under Junior Alvarado.

Irish Jasper gets the 122-pound assignment as well after running fourth in the Test. The First Defence   filly is a two-time grade III winner for Chad Brown. Javier Castellano rides from the 9 hole.

Also of interest is grade III winner Promise Me Silver, who tries her luck in New York again after finishing fifth in the July 4 Victory Ride Stakes (gr. III) won by Irish Jasper.