Charles Town: So Many Ways smoothly deals with slop, tight turns in Charles Town Oaks

Tom Amoss said he felt confident his filly So Many Ways would handle the tight turns at Charles Town after watching her train well at the Churchill Downs training center’s six-furlong track. Amoss was right.

So Many Ways, racing on a wet track for the first time, blew past speedy Florida shipper R Free Roll in deep stretch to capture Saturday night’s $400,000 Charles Town Oaks.

Sent off as the 8-5 favorite in a field of nine 3-year-old fillies, So Many Ways paid $5.40 after running seven furlongs on a sloppy track in 1:26.62. R Free Roll held onto second and Mr Hall’s Opus finished third.

Amoss chose to ship to West Virginia rather than keep So Many Ways at home to run in the Grade 3 Dogwood at Churchill Downs. A Grade 1 winner as a 2-year-old, So Many Ways, a daughter of Sightseeing owned by Maggi Moss, is now 5 for 10 lifetime. She won the Grade 3 Eight Belles at Churchill this past spring and was coming off close fourth in last month’s Grade 1 Test at Saratoga.

The West Virginia-bred Jax and Jill gave local fans a brief thrill when she gunned from post 8 to gain the lead into the first turn of the two-turn race. But R Free Roll was in hot pursuit and sprinted clear after a half-mile in 46.44 seconds. R Free Roll, racing outside of Florida for the first time, maintained a clear advantage turning for home and was stlll 2 1/2 lengths in front with a furlong remaining. But So Many Ways, under Miguel Mena, kicked in down the middle of the track and was 2 3/4 lengths in front at the finish.