Grand Job likely to face Ways and Means again in Ballerina
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tough losses are becoming frequent for the 5-year-old mare Grand Job.
After finishing second by a nose to Eclatant in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes at Keeneland on April 4, Grand Job was beaten a nose by Ways and Means in the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs at Saratoga on Friday.
Grand Job set the pace in the Bed o’ Roses Stakes, and led by 1 1/2 lengths with a furlong remaining before she was caught at the finish.
The problem for trainer Bill Mott and the partnership that owns Grand Job is that their next objective – the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at seven furlongs at Saratoga on Aug. 29 – may also include Ways and Means.
“I don’t know if it will be possible to win a Grade 1 with Ways and Means out there,” Mott said on Sunday.
Grand Job has won 4 of 12 starts and earned $510,851. She was purchased for $105,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale.
Grand Job, who races for Bell Tower Thoroughbreds, Medallion Racing, and Mark Stanton, won her first start of 2026 in the Grade 2 Inside Information Stakes at seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park in January, her lone stakes win.
“Anything we get is a bonus,” Mott said. “She’s turned out to be pretty good. She’s pretty valuable at the moment.”
The pattern of having months-long gaps between races will continue.
“She’s not the type you can take over there every 30 days,” Mott said “She needs time.”
The $500,000 Ballerina Stakes is one of the nation’s leading races for older female sprinters on dirt. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
After the Bed o’ Roses, trainer Chad Brown said the Ballerina is a goal for Ways and Means, a four-time stakes winner.
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