Goldy Espony goes gate to wire in Waya

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Waya Stakes is a 1 1/2-mile route, but all the drama was over in the opening strides. Goldy Espony set unpressured fractions and kicked away in the lane, posting a 3 1/4-length score in the Grade 3, $200,000 event for fillies and mares on Saratoga's inner turf.

The victory continued a productive season for Goldy Espony ($11.20), also a Group 3 winner in her native France. The filly was transferred to trainer Chad Brown's care in the U.S. to make two starts in 2014, finishing sixth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks and third in the Grade 3 Valley View Stakes. After a winter freshening, she now is unbeaten in three starts this season, all in New York. She won an optional-claiming event at Belmont Park before successfully stretching out to 1 1/2 miles to win the River Memories Stakes. In all three outings this season, she has been first or second throughout.

"Last year, we were running her at shorter distances, and it really wasn't working out," said Brown, who saddled three in the Waya. "We were trying to figure her out. We got her back to running long again like she was in Europe. Settling and going to the front, we've really found her niche, and she's responded beautifully."

Leaving from the rail in a field of 11, Goldy Espony broke slightly outward under Kendrick Carmouche but quickly assumed a clear command through a soft opening quarter of 25.03 seconds. Brown trainee Danza Cavallo, sent away as the favorite, was keen to join her stablemate on the front end and protested as she was wrangled back. That left Goldy Espony to coast through unpressured splits of 50.79, 1:16.52, and 2:06.63.

Goldy Espony was set down in upper stretch and had more than enough to draw clear under steady urging from Carmouche. She stopped the clock in 2:29.04 on a course rated firm.

"Kendrick rode a similar race last time [in the River Memories]," Brown said. "He got away easy, and he had a plan when he came to the paddock to try to do the same thing, and he did it well. He set real easy fractions and had plenty left coming home. Those fractions were so easy early, and she turned it into a sprint home. She's a filly with a lot of quality. When you give her a head start, she's going to be tough to run down."

Behind Goldy Espony, things were much tighter in the battle for second as Eastern Belle and White Rose rallied nearly in tandem to be separated by a neck at the wire. White Rose edged Evidently by another neck for third. After tracking her stablemate to the third turn, the favored Danza Cavallo beat a steady retreat to check in 10th.

Brown said Goldy Espony is likely to run back in the Grade 3 Glens Falls Stakes at 1 3/8 miles on Saratoga's closing weekend. Meanwhile, he said he was inclined to cut Danza Cavallo back in distance in an attempt to have her settle behind additional pace and did not have an immediate target in mind for Hellenistic, who finished seventh.