Inside post forces Irish Maxima's hand in Bed o' Roses
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It will be the speed of Irish Maxima against the class of both Ways and Means and Scylla when the trio tops a field of seven older fillies and mares going seven furlongs Friday at Saratoga in the $300,000 Bed o’ Roses Stakes. The lineup also includes recent Grade 2 winner Jody’s Pride.
Irish Maxima has won six of her last seven starts, dating back to August. Five of those victories have come in gate-to-wire fashion, but she will be making her first appearance against Grade 2 competition in the Bed o’ Roses. In her only try at the Grade 1 level, Irish Maxima finished a distant fifth early in her career in the one-mile Frizette.
Ways and Means, on the other hand, is already a Grade 1 winner. She exits a third-place finish as the tepid favorite in her 2025 debut, the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs.
Scylla, who is multiple Grade 1-placed, finished a troubled fourth in the Derby City, three lengths behind Ways and Means over the sloppy going.
Irish Maxima is coming off the most important victory of her career, a 1 1/4-length decision over St. Benedicts Prep in the Grade 3 Distaff on April 5 at Aqueduct. The performance not only extended her current winning streak to three but kept her record unblemished in four lifetime starts at seven furlongs.
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“We always thought she was a nice filly, although she just wasn’t ready mentally for some of the races we ran her in, like the Frizette, early in her career,” her trainer, John Servis, admitted. “She’s a really big filly, it’s amazing she has the speed she does, and obviously this is a very big test for her.
“I’m a little disappointed we drew the one hole, so we’re going to have to utilize that speed, take advantage of it. And obviously I’d love to see her alone on the lead once again.”
Although Ways and Means finished third, beaten nearly four lengths by Kopion, in her seasonal debut, trainer Chad Brown was quite pleased with her performance, which yielded a 102 Beyer Speed Figure, the second best of her career.
Brown feels confident she is coming up to perhaps an even bigger effort Friday.
“It was a very tough race, she caught a wet track, which I’m not certain is her favorite, she was off a long layoff, and the top two finishers were in form and fit,” Brown said. “And she really does love this racetrack.”
Ways and Means comes into the Bed o’ Roses having registered three wins and a second in four previous starts at Saratoga, including a 2 1/2-length triumph going seven furlongs 10 months ago in the Grade 1 Test.
The Bill Mott-trained Scylla finished fourth, a neck in front of Ways and Means, despite getting bumped a furlong from the wire, when the pair first met in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. She too then took the winter off, returning in the Derby City.
“Our challenge this year is to win a Grade 1 with her,” Mott said. “We originally were pointing her for the Madison, which looked like a pretty good spot, but had to skip that race and wound up starting her out in probably the toughest race of the year so far instead.
“Ways and Means is a very good horse, but we finished in front of her in the Breeders’ Cup, and I’m not sure there is as much separation between the two of them as there was the last time they met.”
Jody’s Pride, who finished a close second in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, became a graded stakes winner for the first time when rallying to a three-quarter-length decision over Sterling Silver in the Grade 2, one-mile Ruffian on May 10. She’ll return to Saratoga for the first time since her sensational career debut, a 10 1/2-length maiden special weight victory, during her 2-year-old campaign.
St. Benedicts Prep will try to avenge her loss to Irish Maxima in the Distaff at Aqueduct. She is coming off an even fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Vagrancy last month. The field also includes Justique and Miss Justify.
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