For an encore, Vexatious will try to beat Monomoy Girl in La Troienne
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After knocking off the undisputed leader of the filly and mare handicap division, Midnight Bisou, earlier this month in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga, Vexatious will now set her sights on the division’s No. 2 when she ships to Churchill Downs for a rematch with Monomoy Girl in the Grade 1 La Troienne next Friday.
Trainer Jack Sisterson made that decision shortly after watching Vexatious breeze an easy half-mile in 52.97 seconds under the cover of darkness shortly after the main track opened at 5:30 a.m. here on Friday.
“Basically, I couldn’t see much since it was in the dark, but Mark O’Dwyer, who breezes her once a week, said she couldn’t be doing any better,” Sisterson said. “I was down on the rail and my big thing was just to see how she was moving when she came by the wire, and Mark said he had an extremely hard time pulling her up. It’s one of those things. We just do the half-mile works. That’s how she wants to work, so we just try to keep her happy. Her appetite’s good, her energy is good, and she’s telling us she wants to run back. So we’ll run her next week against Monomoy Girl.”
Sisterson knows going back to back against the two standouts in the division will be no easy task, even for a horse like Vexatious who is in the best form of her career. Vexatious finished second to Monomoy Girl, beaten two lengths, when they met in the Grade 2 Ruffian on July 11 at Belmont Park.
“I know she’s 6, but she’s shown us signs she might be getting better,” Sisterson said of Vexatious.