Trio of graded stakes winners face off G3 Fasig-Tipton Waya

by Brian Bohl

Three graded stakes winners - Suffused, Summersault and Guilty Twelve - comprise an accomplished field of eight fillies and mares 3-years-old and up in the 14th running of the Grade 3, $200,000 Fasig-Tipton Waya on Saturday on Saratoga Race Course's inner turf.

Carded as Race 3, the Waya is one of three graded stakes on the day, highlighted by the Grade 1, $1.2 million Whitney, the traditional focal race for older horses in the 149th Saratoga Race Course meet, as well as the Grade 1, $500,000 Test.

Juddmonte Farms' Suffused, the runner-up in the 2016 Waya, will be making her ninth consecutive graded stakes start. The 5-year-old British bred started her campaign in stellar fashion with back-to-back Grade 3 wins at Gulfstream Park, capturing the La Prevoyante Handicap by one length over Arles and posting a five-length victory over Quiet Kitten in the Very One on March 4.

A second-place finish in the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay marked the Champs Elysees mare's return to Belmont Park. Since finishing fourth last out in the Grade 2 Dance Smartly on July 2 at Woodbine, Suffused has been training at Saratoga, where both of her breezes have been on the Oklahoma dirt track.

"She's been training well enough," Mott said. "She's been aggressive in her gallops, she's eating well; looks good. We're optimistic about it."

Suffused will be running at the Waya distance of 1 ½ miles for the first time since the Prevoyante. Jockey Jose Ortiz will ride from post 4.

Summersault will return to graded stakes competition following a second-place finish to fellow Waya starter Apple Betty in the River Memories on July 9 at Belmont. Owned by William Parsons, Jr. and David Howe, Summersault registered a 92 Beyer Speed Figure in the 1 1/2-mile turf route, marking the longest distance of her career for trainer Mark Hennig.

Despite a troubled trip in which she struggled to escape traffic in the middle of the stretch, Summersault finished just a half-length behind the leader.

"I thought she ran well," Hennig said. "She didn't get a lot of pace to run at, unfortunately, but she ran. She's always going to be a little bit of a victim to the pace, but she likes that distance. She's run well at those longer distances and she likes firm ground too, so hopefully it doesn't rain too much later this week."

Summersault has registered Beyers exceeding 90 in in her four starts, including a win in the Grade 3 Orchid at 1 3/8 miles on April 1 at Gulfstream Park. Paco Lopez, who has three wins and a second-place effort in five starts aboard the Rock Hard Ten mare, will have the return call from post 7.

Guilty Twelve, one of two entries for trainer Graham Motion, won her graded stakes debut last out in the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial on July 8 at Delaware Park, rallying in the stretch to best Zipessa by a nose. 

The Giant's Causeway mare has won three of her last four starts and will be stretching out to 1 ½ miles for the first time. Christopher DeCarlo will ride from the outside.

Guilty Twelve's stablemate Lottie will make her first graded stakes start after finishing in the money with a late surge to earn third-place honors in the River Memories. Jockey Joel Rosario will be in the irons from post 5.

"They are both training well," Motion said. "[For] Lottie, we kind of tested her a little bit last time at Belmont and I thought she handled it very well. Guilty Twelve obviously  really stepped up to win a graded race last time, so this will be a step up for her again here at Saratoga. They both certainly seem to be doing well coming up to the race." 

Allen Stable's Apple Betty has finished on the board in three of her four North American starts since arriving from France at the end of her 3-year-old year. 

Now 4, the Irish bred, who is 4-1-4 in 12 career starts, will look to improve on her previous best finish against graded stakes competition when she took second in the Grade 3 Dowager on October 23 at Keeneland. 

"She's doing good and it's all-systems-go," Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said. 

Hall of Famer John Velazquez will break from the rail.

Estrechada will look to notch her first win in the United States since arriving from Argentina. Trained by Mike Puype, she couldn't escape traffic to finish sixth in the River Memories and will make her first graded stakes start since running third in the Grade 3 Santa Barbara on April 30 at Santa Anita.

Jockey Javier Castellano, who will be a newly minted Hall of Famer after his induction Friday morning, will ride from post 2.

Gone Away, rated in her last start to earn a piece of the purse with a third-place finish in the Dick Memorial, will make her first start at the Spa since last year's Grade 2 Lake George for trainer Michael Matz. Florent Geroux will ride from post 3.

Evidently, for trainer Roy Lerman, is seeking her first win of the year and first since the 2016 Grade 3 Long Island Handicap. Manny Franco will have the mount from post 6.