Daddy Is a Legend Seeks More Spa Success in Lake Placid

Jim and Susan Hill's Daddy Is a Legend will go for her second graded stakes win at Saratoga Race Course in as many months Aug. 18 when she competes against six other 3-year-old fillies in the $300,000 Lake Placid Stakes (G2T).

Daddy Is a Legend is returning from a two-length win in the July 20 Lake George Stakes (G3T) at 1 1/16 miles at the Spa. Coming from off the pace, the Scat Daddy filly overtook Altea in the stretch, using a strong move from the rail to win over firm turf for trainer George Weaver.

After breaking her maiden in her third start, Daddy Is a Legend capped her juvenile campaign with a win in the Nov. 25 Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3T) at Del Mar. After a third-place finish in the May 4 Edgewood Stakes presented by Forcht Bank (G3T) at Churchill Downs, she ran fourth in the June 7 Wonder Again Stakes (G3T) at Belmont Park before coming back to win the Lake George.

"It'll be a nice field of fillies; none of these races come up easy, but we're happy with the way she's training going into it," Weaver said. "She ran well in the Wonder Again, but she still got beat by a length and a half. I think she would prefer to have some cover, but you can't always write your own race. I think she belongs in this race, and hopefully we trained her well enough that she can get the distance and get the win."

Jockey Manny Franco, aboard for the Lake George win, will have the return call as Daddy Is a Legend will look to conquer a turf course deluged with consistent rainfall all summer.

"She won the Lake George on firm turf, so if it was up to me, I'd like it firm, but it doesn't look like it's going to be," Weaver said. "When push comes to shove, I don't know if it's her best surface, but we're here now and committed, so she'll just have to deal with it."

Daddy Is a Legend will also have to deal with e Five Racing Thoroughbreds' Rushing Fall, who started her career 4-for-4 before running second by a neck to Toinette in the Edgewood after uncharacteristically going to the front in the early stages. The More Than Ready  filly won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) in November and opened her 3-year-old campaign with a win in the Appalachian Stakes Presented by Japan Racing Association (G2T) before suffering her first loss.

Thewayiam has come in second in her last three starts—all against stakes company—including a runner up finish behind Athena last out in the July 7 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T). Since shipping to North America, Thewayiam has four wins and three second-place finishes in eight starts, winning at distances ranging from 7 1/2 furlongs to the 1 1/16-mile Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) March 3.

"I think she's been remarkable," trainer Graham Motion said. "She just seems like she handles whatever you put in front of her, and she's so tough. In the mornings, she's very straightforward. She's just a very tough competitor."

In the Appalachian, Thewayiam rallied from sixth to second, just one length behind Rushing Fall. Stretching out to the Belmont Oaks distance, Motion said her effort from midpack to earn second was impressive.

"I don't think any of us knew with confidence that she was going to get a mile and a quarter," he said. "I had a feeling that she would, but it just speaks to her competitiveness."

Grade 3 winner Andina Del Sur will make her sixth straight graded stakes start. She ran fourth in the Lake George as the 124-pound highweight. Saturday's stakes will be her second time at the Lake Placid distance, following a sixth-place finish two starts back in the Wonder Again.

"She always looks like she gallops out well, so I don't think extra distance hurts her," trainer Thomas Albertrani said. "I think she was subject to a slow pace in her last couple of races. They kind of sprinted away from her, and she stayed a little one-paced at the end. So, hopefully, going a little longer, she'll have a little extra. She ran a good race (in the Lake George), and she carried top weight that day."

Entries: Lake Placid S. (G2T)

Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, August 18, 2018, Race 8

• Grade IIT
• 1 1/8m
• Turf
• $300,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 5:02 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Thewayiam (FR)	John R. Velazquez	122	H. Graham Motion	7/2
2	2Daddy Is a Legend (PA)	Manuel Franco	120	George Weaver	4/1
3	3Capla Temptress (IRE)	Julien R. Leparoux	118	William I. Mott	6/1
4	4Significant Form (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Chad C. Brown	3/1
5	5Go Noni Go (KY)	Mike E. Smith	114	Michael J. Maker	15/1
6	6Rushing Fall (KY)	Javier Castellano	120	Chad C. Brown	9/5
7	7Andina Del Sur (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	120	Thomas Albertrani	15/1