The Ballston – Grade II
SAR Race #5 1 1/16m InTurf Graded Stake
Purse $300.000 For Fillies And Mares Four Years Old And Upward.

1 Swam Pass TwinTowersRacing Franco M 123 —

Gets the ace so that will certainly help as this four-year-old does need to find a bit here. Having said that when she has found the front, she has been pretty good winning her last two from that leading position including the Osunitas Stakes last time. Her works are pretty strong, and this trainer can set his horses into these races to run big races, so I wouldn’t be writing her off especially if she can break fast from the gate and get to the front.

2 Perfect Class Sccj Stables Gutierrez Mario 123 —

What a difference a year makes as we find last year’s BC Fillies And Mares Turf winner looking for her first win of the season. It would’ve been unthinkable last year to think it would be nearly September and she hadn’t won a race in 2023 but that is what can happen at HRP with these great three-year-olds that find themselves as four-year-olds and struggling to find their form without a weight allowance. Her works haven’t really dropped off so I really think it is a case of four-year-old – itus and whilst she wouldn’t be the automatic choice she was last year I do feel that this generation is starting to get going again on their improvement curves and she may find some of her best form as we come into the last part of the year.

3 Painville Mo Mentum Farm Dettori L 123 —

This five-year-old has been in great form this year going through the grades and winning at all three stakes levels in 2023. An on-pace type, so she is perfectly suited to the new engine, I expect her to be in this race for a long way and she could easily come out on top. The last time she ran this trip was in the grade one Wiley where she weakened rather badly from the lead, but she had the wide gate that day and that can often happen when they have to work over from the car park to get the front. It is likely that she leads or stalks today and she has a good gate to do that from and whilst she has proven a little vulnerable at the end of her races this year it will take a good one to get by her.

4 Wander Mb Stables Velazquez J R 123 —

Only a length behind Perfect Class in the American Oaks last year she has been a very consistent sort without reaching the heights of some of the stable’s stars. Untested really since turning four no one knows better than to not push a four-year-old in the first part of the season than Mb and she has been quietly building her form and was a really nice winner last time when escaping a penalty in the De La Rose and making all to win going away. Anything from this stable has a chance in a stakes race and she is no different, she has the works and the consistency now all she needs is a 21% chance of winning.

5 Fangs Of The Storm Arindel Saez L 123 —

This five-year-old is really suffering at the hands of the inconsistency Gods this year having finished ahead of Painville in the Wiley and behind her in The Diana, she has also beaten Wander in the Modesty and behind and in front of Perfect Class for most of the year. At this point I have no idea, and I doubt the trainer has either, exactly which mare will turn up today. On her works she will be a contender and on her form she could be first or last, only she will know which one we will get today.

SUMMARY

If you untangle all the form lines in this race Perfect Class comes out just on top but of course we have not seen the same filly this year so it remains to be seen as to whether she can confirm that form superiority in the actual race. I have rarely seen two horses run the same race twice so I have very little confidence in a race where most of them have beaten or been beaten by each other, but I have to go with Perfect Class one last time. Painville is the most obvious choice to follow her home or beat her.

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES