Big closer War Like Goddess begins campaign in Bewitch

LEXINGTON, Ky. – As one door closes, another opens. Keeneland ends its 15-day spring meet Friday just as War Like Goddess starts her 5-year-old season, a time of transition sure to find some folks looking back on fun times and others looking forward to more.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and his crew have pinpointed the closing-day feature, the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes, as a potential springboard to further greatness for War Like Goddess. The stretch-running mare was a standout last year at 4, barely falling shy of an Eclipse Award when capturing four graded stakes, including the Bewitch, from just six tries.

War Like Goddess was unable to sustain a huge rally after coming from far back to make the lead in the final furlong of her last start of 2021, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 6, a race won by the eventual Eclipse champion in the division, Loves Only You. War Like Goddess finished third in that Del Mar race, beaten just a half-length in a crowded finish, snapping a four-race win streak that surely would have made her a champion if only she could’ve upped it to five. War Like Goddess was second to Loves Only You in year-end Eclipse voting.

Oh well. The $300,000 Bewitch, to be run around three turns over a turf course expected to be firm, figures as a useful lead-off race for War Like Goddess as 2022 unfolds. Mott will use it to pivot toward more important divisional races such as the Grade 1 Flower Bowl, which War Like Goddess won last September at Saratoga, before bringing her back for the BC Filly and Mare Turf, which is set for Nov. 5 here at Keeneland.

Owned by George Krikorian, the Kentucky-bred daughter of English Channel will have a new rider, 2021 Eclipse winner Joel Rosario, when heavily favored against six other fillies and mares in the 60th Bewitch.

“The mare had a great winter,” said Riley Mott, who, as assistant to his father, worked closely through the winter with War Like Goddess at Payson Park in south Florida. “After the Breeders’ Cup, we turned her out here at Payson 60 days in our backyard and she let down really well, grew a nice thick winter coat.

“When we put her back in training, she shed out right away, which indicates she was doing well. She’s been on a normal work schedule since then and hasn’t missed a beat leading up to this race. Obviously, we’re hoping for another very productive year from her.”

War Like Goddess will break from post 4 in the Bewitch, which anchors the spring finale as the eighth of 10 races. Starting in early March, she had seven timed works at Payson prior to being sent to Kentucky to join assistant Kenny McCarthy at Churchill Downs following her most recent breeze on April 18.

Given her decisive edge in class and Beyer Speed Figures in comparison to the opposition, War Like Goddess won’t necessarily need a fast pace to facilitate her closing kick – but that might happen anyway. Breeze Rider (post 7, E.T. Baird) is an habitual front-runner who figures to speed away from the gate, while Stand Tall (post 5, Florent Geroux) also could show early zip, fresh from a six-month-plus layoff.

However the race develops, War Like Goddess figures to come mowing them down in the final quarter-mile, a habit of hers since she began her career with an eye-catching rush in a September 2020 maiden race over the Churchill turf. In all, the bay mare has won 6 of 8 starts, with three graded victories beside the Flower Bowl also to her credit.

If she is to be upset, Family Way (post 3, Tyler Gaffalione) is the most likely candidate. The 5-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo is in peak form, having turned in a pair of big efforts at the Gulfstream Park championship meet, the latest resulting in victory in the Grade 3 Orchid earlier this month.

The Bewitch, named for the Calumet Farm mare inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977, is the middle leg in the $3-minimum Turf Pick 3 (races 6, 8, and 10) and a link in all the late multi-race wagers. Its purse includes $50,000 in bonuses for registered Kentucky-breds, a stipulation that applies to all seven starters except La Lune, a British-bred.

First post Friday is 12:30 p.m. Eastern, with the Bewitch going at 4:07 and the last race at 5:09. The April horses of racing age sale starts in the sales pavilion at 6:30.

Live action on this circuit moves Saturday night to Churchill, where a 44-day spring meet starts with racing under the lights.