Crist: Prioress Stakes preview

If I were playing the pick six today at Saratoga, one of the strongest potential singles in the sequence would be Cavorting, the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the featured Grade 2 Prioress. She may actually be an overlay at that price.

Cavorting comes into this race with the two highest Beyer Speed Figures anyone in the field has recorded – a 93 last-out winning the Grade 1 Test and a 100 taking the ungraded Jersey Girl at Belmont. Today’s race is a bridge for her from the Test to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, and it’s unclear whether any of her rivals today is in that Grade 1 echelon.

Cavorting’s victory in the Test was a widening 2 1/2-length romp after being ninth early, and it came despite a tepid pace in front of her – 23.21 seconds and 46.21 in a race in which the early fractions are often more like 22 and 45 or quicker. That ran her Saratoga record to 2 for 2 as she also won the Adirondack here last year.

Two others in the field intrigue me as backups if something goes awry with the favorite. Irish Jasper (5-1) showed a strong late kick of her own winning the Grade 3 Miss Preakness and the Grade 3 Victory Ride and was even farther behind the slow Test pace than Cavorting before belatedly rallying for third.

Ekati’s Phaeton would offer value if she really goes off near her morning-line price of 20-1. A Grade 2 winner earlier this year, she makes her first start since May 1 and her second for trainer Bill Mott, who has been working her steadily at Saratoga for the last two months. In a field without much blazing early speed, she could be dangerous if she gets loose early.