Added ground of Glens Falls should suit Gezora, Speed Shopper
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Gezora went off as the 9-5 favorite and Speed Shopper as an outsider at 12-1 when the pair met for the first time in the Grade 1 New York Stakes at Saratoga over Belmont Stakes weekend. The final odds figure to be a lot closer when the two long-winded specialists get a little class relief and stretch back out to 1 1/2 miles Thursday at Saratoga in the $250,000 Glens Falls Stakes.
The Grade 2 Glens Falls drew a bulky and very evenly matched field of 11 older fillies and mares that also includes Dona Clota, Alluring Angel, Storm Miami, and Bellezza – the first four horses across the wire in the Grade 3 Robert Dick Memorial last month at Delaware Park – and the Group 1-placed Irish-bred Survie. The multiple New York-bred stakes winner Bernietakescharge is the lone main-track-only entrant.
The reigning Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Gezora will try to get back on track following a couple of somewhat disappointing efforts to launch a 2026 campaign that began with a second-place finish as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 3 Modesty going 1 1/8 miles on May 1 at Churchill Downs. She then failed to be a serious factor making her local bow in the New York Stakes, racing forwardly before fading badly to finish eighth and last in the 1 3/16-mile fixture.
Gezora won the BC Filly and Mare Turf with Francis-Henri Graffard before being transferred to trainer Chad Brown by owner Peter Brant prior to her 2026 debut. She was sent to Bill Mott after the Modesty.
“She became a little rank the first part of the race in the New York,” said Mott. “A mile and one-half is what she’s looking for. She just got up going a mile and three-eighths in the Breeder’ Cup. Had a great trip and just wore them down the last eighth of a mile.”
Trained by Will Walden, Speed Shopper is already a two-time Grade 3 winner going 1 1/2 miles this year, having captured the inaugural running of the Christophe Clement Stakes at Gulfstream Park and the Bewitch three months later at Keeneland. Those victories were sandwiched around a troubled third-place finish in the Grade 3 Orchid at Gulfstream.
In the New York, Speed Shopper raced forwardly while saving ground during the opening mile but could not kick on with the leaders in the stretch. She ultimately finished seventh, 6 1/2 lengths behind wire-to-wire winner Portfolio Duration.
“With the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland going 1 3/16 miles this year, we wanted to get a feel for that distance and class level with her and felt the New York was our only option,” Walden explained. “We wanted to ask that question before November and we got our answer, even though it wasn’t the one we were looking for. I just don’t think she appreciated the distance.”
This is why Walden is confident Speed Shopper will bounce back with a big effort stretching back out to 1 1/2 miles on Thursday.
“She’s been really successful around three turns, is two for three lifetime at a mile and one-half, and you could make the case she was also best except for a lot of traffic in the one she lost at Gulfstream,” said Walden. “Her gift is her ability to relax in a race situation. She’s training really well and I’m looking forward to this race, especially with Irad [Ortiz Jr.] up. He’s hotter than a stove right now.”
The first four finishers of the 1 3/8-mile Robert Dick were separated by just a length at the wire, with Dona Clota rallying between horses to get up in the final strides under Irad Ortiz to win by a neck as the even-money favorite. Alluring Angel rallied mildly down the middle of the course to finish second, with the pacesetting Storm Miami third across the wire before being placed fourth behind Bellezza for interfering with that rival near midstretch.
The victory was the first in six U.S. starts for Dona Clota, who was a multiple Group 1 winner in her native Chile two years ago. With Ortiz opting to take the call on Speed Shopper, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has named Tyler Gaffalione aboard Dona Clota in the Glens Falls.
Survie has raced exclusively in Europe and was Group 2-placed two starts back when finishing a distant third in the 1 1/8-mile Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket on May 3. Trained by George Boughey for owner Michael Tabor, Survie finished fourth, less than two lengths behind Gezora, in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille late last summer at Longchamp.
– additional reporting by David Grening