A host of horse racing's greatest 3-year-old fillies won the Mother Goose Stakes (G2) over the past 70 years enroute to Hall of Fame careers.
Among them are Cicada (1962), Ruffian (1975), Davona Dale (19xx), Open Mind (1989), Go For Wand (1990), Sky Beauty (1993), and Rachel Alexandra (2009).
A stellar list, indeed, for a longtime spring/summer race that has gone through many iterations. It was a Grade 1 from 1973-2016, part of the now defunct Triple Tiara (a New York Triple Crown series for 3-year-old fillies) from 1957-2002 and 2007-2009, and now a Grade 2 back at 1 1/16-miles after a three-year run at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga while Belmont Park was being rebuilt.
While Saturday's edition doesn't boast top-flight 3-year-old fillies like it did before, a large field of 11 poses many betting options for handicappers. And who knows, perhaps the winner is headed fot stellar 4-year-old campaign.
Four winning trainers from last week's Breeders' Cup have fillies in the race: Bill Mott (Sovereignty, BC Classic) sends out Answered Prayers (8-1) and Ati Girl (6-1); Miguel Clement (Deterministic, BC Mile) sends out Run Wild (15-1); Brad Cox (Further Ado, BC Dirt Mile) saddles Tap to Open (5-1); and Chad Brown (Ways and Means, BC Filly & Mare Sprint; Kathynmarissa, BC Filly & Mare Turf); sends out Cognition (9-2).
One trainer who did not have a great Breeders' Cup, though, has a strong chance in the Mother Goose, and that's Saffie Joseph, Jr., who sends out 5-2 morning-line favorite Bodacious Bay, Laken (20-1), and Tahlequah (12-1).
After a maiden win at fourth asking in June for trainer Rodolphe Brisset, the Bodacious Bay was purchased privately and sent to Joseph. In September, she stalked an early pace, took charge earlier than expected and won the $1 million Cotillion Stakes (G1) by 3 ¼ lengths over Always a Runner, the Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner.
Michah Husbands was aboard then and will be aboard again Saturday, leaving from post 7.
"I was loaded the whole way," Husbands said after the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion, the same distance as the Mother Goose but around two turns, not one. "I was just sitting there on a lot of horse. By the half-mile pole, she wanted to go a little earlier than I thought, and I didn't want to get in her way, so I just let her cruise up and tried to bide my time. She finished it off like a monster."
Bodacious Bay has finished first or second in all five of her starts.
Laken starts for the first time for Joseph after winning a maiden race at fourth asking and then running third in an optional claimer for trainer Vicki Oliver. The Good Magic filly's lone win came at 1 1/16 miles and the distance could be in her wheelhouse for a top 3 finish.
Joseph was 0-for-5 in last week's Breeders' Cup, his best finish a sixth by Eunomia in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).
Intrepids Fantasy comes into the race with a 3-0 record, all at Delaware Park, for trainer Gary Capuano. Like Bodacious Bay, the filly did not race as a 2-year-old but comes into her first stakes race with Jorge Ruiz getting the call. A front-runner who won gate-to-wire last out, this is a big step up.
“It's a one-turn race, and she's always been two turns; it's first time in a stakes, so she has no Lasix for the first time; and she’s jumping up into graded company," he said. "You have three unknowns there. I think she's up to the task but until they run it's hard to say. We'll see how it plays out."
After more than a one-year layoff, Cognition won at Keeneland on Oct. 2 in her second start. She led at every call in the 7-furlong race for Brown, who won last year's Mother Goose with Fully Subscribed.
"She's in the same great form as she was prior to her win at Keeneland. We are excited to see her run back,” said Lee Vickers, Brown’s New York-based assistant. “This is one turn. Let's see if she can kind of dictate things again and just hold on a little bit. She's got plenty of natural speed, so let's see how she can hold on."
The Mother Goose is race 9, with a post rime of 3:43 p.m.
1 Cognition (Flavien Prat, Chad Brown), 9-2
2 Answered Prayers (Junior Alvarado, Bill Mott), 8-1
3 Tap to Open (Manny Franco, Brad Cox), 5-1
4 Laken (Vincent Cheminaud, Saffie Joseph, Jr.), 20-1
5 Iron Orchard (Dylan Davis, Steve Asmussen), 12-1
6 Ati Girl (John Velazquez, Bill Mott), 6-1
7 Bodacious Bay (Micah Husbands, Saffie Joseph, Jr.), 5-2
8 Ivy Girl (Antonio Fresu, Amelia Green), 30-1
9 Tahlequah (Paco Lopez, Saffie Joseph, Jr.), 12-1
10 Intrepids Fantasy (Jorge Ruiz, Gary Capuano), 8-1
11 Run Wild (Samy Marin, Miguel Clement), 15-1
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
