Wedding Toast Romps in Beldame

A decision to skip the Personal Ensign Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga Race Course with 5-year-old Wedding Toast proved to be the right call Sept. 26, as Godolphin Racing's Street Sense   mare romped wire-to-wire in the $400,000 Beldame Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park.

Well-rested and with a solid pattern of works under her belt at Darley's Greentree Training Center, the Kiaran McLaughlin trainee sailed along on an easy lead in the 1 1/8-mile event and drew off to finish in 1:47.67 over a fast surface. Racing on Lasix, she is now 5-for-5 on the Belmont main track.

"(The layoff was) not much of a concern if you saw her worktab," McLaughlin said. "She just had a little foot issue and we had to skip the Personal Ensign and then, thinking about it, we thought this was a better spot anyway because she loves the one turn."

Maintaining a 1 1/2-length lead up the backstretch, Wedding Toast opened by three lengths as the field turned for home, found more to give and easily distanced sophomore Curalina through a 1:35.21 mile to hold sway while slightly drifting out.

"She broke good and I let her go at her own pace," Lezcano said. "When I asked her in the stretch, she went on and did it easy. I never touched her with the whip or anything."

Curalina, running against elders for the first time, was second by 2 3/4 lengths, while Catch My Drift settled for third five lengths back.

Wedding Toast, who punched her ticket to the Oct. 30 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I), returned $3.30, $2.10, and $2.10 while Curalina brought $3.10 and $2.30 as the 5-2 second choice. Catch My Drift paid $2.80 as Call Pat, House Rules, and Hot Stones completed the order of finish.

"As good form as she's in, she'll be able to handle two turns (in the Breeders' Cup Distaff)," McLaughlin said. "She's won at two turns. But this race was here and it's a grade I, so it worked out well. I don't say it very often, but I asked him (Jose Lezcano) not to give her a hard race if he didn't have to because she looked that good on paper. We have a big race in five weeks. Couldn't have asked for better, it really went perfect."

The dark bay mare was bred in Kentucky by Darley out of the Coronado's Quest mare Golden Sheba, and aced her third win in a row and second consecutive grade I score after taking the June 6 Ogden Phipps Stakes (gr. I) by five lengths over champion Untapable last time out off a May 9 Ruffian Stakes (gr. II) score. The Beldame victory improved her record to 8-2-1 from 12 starts, for earnings of $1,419,956. Among those wins is a grade III score in the 2013 Comely Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack.

According to McLaughlin, Wedding Toast will likely prep for her Breeders' Cup run at Greentree before shipping to Keeneland.

"We're not sure when we're going to go to Kentucky," the trainer said. "She's been training at Greentree on the synthetic and as long as the weather cooperates, we'll probably keep her there. She could go fine on the dirt at Keeneland or here or at (the) Oklahoma (training track at Saratoga), so we've got a lot of options."