Where there is smoke there is fire, well at least where there is Smokey Stover their is fire from Grand Dragonville. The bay filly out of Grandeur won her third of the season here at the Spa with the return of J. Velazquez in the irons.

The Waya- Grade III Purse $200.000
Saratoga Race Course- For Fillies & Mares Three Years old and Up
One Mile and a half – Inner Turf Course

After just missing in the Gr. II Dance Smartly Stakes over at Woodbine, dropping a notch and going two furlongs longer had Grand Dragonville at the top by the time she reached the wire in a final time of 2:25.80. She has a career record of 12 ( 5-3-2 ) and this would be her first ever Graded company win after capturing two Non Graded events this season. Jockey Velazquez has guided her to a victory and two runner-up finishes and this trainer will try to look to use him more in the future. This was Smokey Stover’s first ever Waya title.

While some may feel the re-add of Bute may have not helped, runner-up Joshua Stables Youthful Presence made the most of her talents at staying competitive throughout. Take into account the additional five pounds for this event and the fact that she has never seen this distance in the past, she performed spectacular to say the least. Trainer is still in the experimental stage with this four year old, but watch for her to break out of this runner-up habit real soon.

The show money would go to Nike Talk out of Czech Out Farms. Let go at some amazing plus 420-1 odds, accounting for a show payout of $184.700, I was surprised given the fact that she already had a stakes win at this distance that she found very little backing dollars. Looking at previous works, I truly believe this sophomore filly will be the one to bring home this trainers first ever Graded title. Bank on it.

Minor share purse money belonged to inside runner Crocker Ggs‘ Moon Car. While she got her first win of the season last time out against Allowance company, she may need a few more races at that level to get the feel for winning. Also competing outside of a mile and an eighth is something I personally wouldn’t recommend, that’s her bread and butter.

Also completing this field were Great Din ( Drabfantasy ) , Sovereign Nation ( Paradise Stable ), Change Perception ( Mb Stables ) and finally Maxmillion Farm’s Alydar Moon.

Duffer

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES