Brown has sharp pair for Waya Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As seems to be the case with most graded stakes races decided on the turf this summer at Saratoga, trainer Chad Brown will have the upper hand when sending out three-time graded stakes winner Santa Monica and the up-and-coming Fools Gold against just four rivals in the $200,000 Waya. The Grade 3 Waya will be decided at 1 1/2 miles over the inner course.

Santa Monica has registered a pair of victories and a second in three starts thus far this season but has not run since rallying to a popular 1 1/4-length tally in the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay decided over soft ground going 1 3/8 miles on May 4 at Belmont Park. Santa Monica also was Grade 1-placed last fall when third in the E.P. Taylor at Woodbine before finishing a non-threatening 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

“She’s had a tiny little gap in her races due to a minor illness,” Brown said. “She’s gotten over it okay, she’s training well, but she still has to overcome the layoff. It looks like she fits well in here, but the small field and lack of pace is always a concern for a filly like this.”

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If the weather holds, Santa Monica also will be catching firm ground for the first time since winning the Grade 2 Dance Smartly at Woodbine more than 13 months ago.

“I know it’s been a while since she’s run over a firm track, although I thought the course was firm enough even though they called it good when she won her last start at Gulfstream,” said Brown, referring to the Grade 3 Orchid. “But she’s the kind of mare who acts like she’ll run over anything.”

Fools Gold could wind up the controlling speed in a field decidedly lacking in early pace. She will be making her graded stakes debut in the Waya while exiting a strong second-place finish over the same 12-furlong distance in the River Memories Stakes last month at Belmont Park, for which she received a career-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure.

“She’s an improving horse who deserves a shot in a race like this,” Brown said of Fools Gold. “She has a little more pace than Santa Monica, and I think she’ll be the more forwardly placed of the two.”

Gentle Ruler will share high weight of 124 pounds with Santa Monica under the allowance conditions of the Waya coming off a convincing 2 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial going 1 3/8 miles on July 6 at Delaware Park. The win was the fourth in a row for Gentle Ruler, each of those victories coming since trainer Ian Wilkes paired his filly with jockey Chris Landeros to launch the streak with a maiden win over a muddy main track this spring at Gulfstream.

Theodora B, second behind Gentle Ruler at Delaware, the multiple graded stakes placed Get Explicit, and Sky Full of Stars complete the field.