Ward Trio Could Dominate Bolton Landing
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Photo: Mathea Kelley
Shang Shang Shang with her connections after winning the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot
The $100,000 Bolton Landing Stakes for 2-year-old fillies will highlight Saratoga Race Course's Aug. 15 card in the week leading up to the grade 1 Alabama Stakes, and the field of eight will feature a trio of Wesley Ward trainees headed by his group 2 winner Shang Shang Shang.
The Shanghai Bobby filly was impressive in her debut in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight at Keeneland, where she set the pace from the start and drew away to 2 1/4-length score on the fast track.
As the conditioner so often does with his promising youngsters, Ward sent Shang Shang Shang for a start at Royal Ascot in the June 21 Norfolk Stakes (G2) at a straight five furlongs. In similar fashion to her first start, the filly owned by Breeze Easy went straight to the lead and set a brisk pace, but had to fight harder than her first race and barely held on to win by a nose at the wire on the good to firm turf.
That win earned Shang Shang Shang a "Win and You're In" trip to the Nov. 2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs.
Although she is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the Bolton Landing, Ward has cross-entered the filly in the Aug. 17 Skidmore Stakes, where she could possibly take on males at the same 5 1/2 furlongs on the grass.
Training at Saratoga, Shang Shang Shang recently earned a bullet four-furlong work Aug. 6, when she was the fastest of 99 at the distance on the turf that day, turning in a time of :47.73.
Should Shang Shang Shang run in the Bolton Landing she would face the likes of Godolphin's Elsa, who broke her maiden by 3 3/4 lengths first time out at Laurel Park. The Animal Kingdom filly has a bit of pedigree to back her as well, as she is out of a half sister to grade 1 winner Midshipman .
The Michael Stidham trainee also turned in a bullet four-furlong work recently, clocking :47.80 at Fair Hill Training Center Aug. 8 to be the fastest of seven at the distance that day.
Ward also brings Hat Creak Racing's Chelsea Cloisters into the Bolton Landing off a runner-up finish in the group 3 Prix du Bois at Deauville in July. The First Samurai filly crushed a field of seven others by eight lengths at Keeneland in her first start, but then disappointed with an 11th-place finish in the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) at Ascot just before her start in the Prix du Bois.
Ward's third entry is Stillwater Cove who won her maiden on debut but then returned with an off-the-board finish in the Albany Stakes (G3) at Ascot. The Quality Road filly and Chelsea Cloisters are also cross-entered in the Skidmore.
Saratoga Race Course, Wednesday, August 15, 2018, Race 9Entries: Bolton Landing S.
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Avocado Toast (FL)
Angel S. Arroyo
122
Thomas Albertrani
20/1
2
2Drynachan (NY)
Javier Castellano
122
Chad C. Brown
3/1
3
3Shang Shang Shang (FL)
Joel Rosario
122
Wesley A. Ward
9/5
4
4Chelsea Cloisters (KY)
John R. Velazquez
122
Wesley A. Ward
7/2
5
5Fightress (KY)
Julien R. Leparoux
122
Norm W. Casse
15/1
6
6Elsa (KY)
Joe Bravo
122
Michael Stidham
5/1
7
7Questionoftheday (MD)
Jose L. Ortiz
122
Michael J. Trombetta
12/1
8
8Stillwater Cove (KY)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
122
Wesley A. Ward
8/1
