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Clement sends two for $85K Dayatthespa

by Ryan Martin

Trainer Christophe Clement has enjoyed a prosperous beginning of the Spa summer meet and will attempt to keep his barn's winning ways intact when he enters Classic Lady and Wegetsdamunys for Wednesday's inaugural running of the $85,000 Dayatthespa for New York-bred fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf at Saratoga Race Course.

Owned by Michael Dubb and Bethlehem Stables, Classic Lady will be making her second start for Clement and arrives at the Dayatthespa off a runner-up effort in her stakes debut in the Mount Vernon won by multiple-stakes winner Fifty Five.

The consistent dark bay 5-year-old daughter of Jimmy Creed has not finished worse than second in her last seven starts.

"She was a bit keen last time going a mile. It's a matter of trip on the grass, so whoever gets the best trip will win," Clement said.

Bred in the Empire State by Seth Gregory and Robert Barney, Classic Lady is out of the Eltish broodmare Elle Tish Slew, who also produced stakes-placed Forever Changed.

Jockey Joel Rosario will pilot Classic Lady from post 4 as he and Clement look for their third stakes victory together this meet.

Scott Krase and Peter Stokes' Wegetsdamunnys will see a significant cutback in distance after finishing seventh in the River Memories at Belmont Park going 1 ½ miles on firm turf.

The 5-year-old daughter of D'Funnybone won her 2020 debut two starts back against open company over Belmont's inner turf against subsequent stakes-placed Noor Sahara. She bested stable mate Classic Lady last season over a yielding inner turf at the Spa by three-quarters of a lengths.

"She ran a bit flat last time which was disappointing because she trained very well. She's at Belmont now. It's a bit aggressive, but we'll give it a try," Clement said.

Wegetsdamunnys has earned stakes black type on both dirt and turf, having run second in Finger Lakes' Shesastonecoldfox as a 2-year-old and was a close second in the State of Liberty division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series in 2018. Last year, she was third to Fifty Five in the John Hettinger over Belmont's inner turf.

Bred by Wellspring Stables, Wegetsdamunnys is out of the Unbridled's Song broodmare Mystic Miracle.

Jockey David Cohen will pilot Wegetsdamunnys from post 2.

Trainer Chad Brown, who conditioned the race's three-time Grade 1-winning namesake, will saddle Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Bethlehem Stables' War Canoe.

The 7-year-old Lemon Drop Kid mare was third to stable mate Fifty Five in the Mount Vernon last out, which was her first start of the year. The veteran of 36 starts was claimed in the final start of 2019, defeating optional claiming company over the inner turf at Aqueduct in November.

Bred by TIC Racing Stable, War Canoe is out of the Langfuhr broodmare Gdansking Queen.

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr will guide War Canoe from post 1.

Sackatoga Stable's Niko's Dream arrives at the Dayatthespa with a victory against open company and will seek to carry over her winning form against her New York-bred counterpart from post 6.

Trained by Barclay Tagg, the chestnut Central Banker filly registered a career-best 80 Beyer Speed Figure when pulling off an 11-1 upset victory on May 17 at Gulfstream Park. That marked her first win since defeating New York-bred winners over the inner turf at the Spa on August 30.

In two starts against stakes company last year, Niko's Dream was second to Kid Is Frosty in the 2019 Cupecoy's Joy and Statue of Liberty divisions of the New York Stallion Stakes Series.

Jockey Junior Alvarado was aboard Niko's Dream for her first two triumphs and will return to the irons.

Completing the field are Wish Upon [post 5, Luis Saez] and Vortex Road [post 7, Kendrick Carmouche. Love and Love [post 3, Dylan Davis] has been entered for main track only.

The Dayatthespa is named in honor of Jerry Frankel, Ronald Frankel, Steve Laymon and Bradley Thoroughbreds' 2014 Champion Turf Mare, who secured Grade 1 victories in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup and First Lady at Keeneland as well as the Grade 1 Breeder's Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita. The New York-bred daughter of City Zip retired with 11 victories and lifetime earnings of $2,288,892.

The Dayatthespa is slated as Race 5 on Wednesday's 10-race card, which offers a first post of 1:10 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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