The Mackem Bullet faces Brown's trio in Lake George

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Wesley Ward is bullish on the chances of The Mackem Bullet going into Friday’s main event at Saratoga, the $150,000 Lake George Stakes. But he knows he’s got a formidable task on his hands when he sends his Grade 2 winner out against the imposing Chad Brown-trained trio of Regal Glory, Dogtag, and Blowout in the Grade 3 Lake George, carded at a mile for 3-year-old fillies over the inner turf.

Ward entered a pair for the Lake George, including the multiple stakes winner Stillwater Cove. But he intends to start only The Mackem Bullet, with Stillwater Cove being targeted for Saturday’s San Clemente at Del Mar instead.

The Mackem Bullet joined Ward’s stable immediately after her sixth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She has won two of her three starts for Ward, including the Grade 2 Appalachian, where she defeated Regal Glory by 1 1/4 lengths over a soft course at Keeneland in her last outing April 7.

“I was given this filly with the intent to go to Ascot,” Ward said. “She’s a tough filly to train, and it took me a while to really get to know her and a wonderful exercise rider in Jose Hernandez to really get her turned around. I put her in an allowance race to give her a confidence booster the first time back, but I don’t really think she’s a Polytrack horse. And once she started breezing on the grass at Keeneland, I could really see what I had going into the Appalachian.”

Ward said the Group 1 Coronation Stakes was the goal at Ascot, plans he scrapped as the time approached to ship The Mackem Bullet across the pond.

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“I just didn’t think she could win a race like that at this time,” said Ward. “That left us with two options over here, the Lake George or the San Clemente, and I decided to bring her to Saratoga and put Stillwater Cove in just as a backup. She’s done everything right since her last start; she’s fresh and fit as can be. But we’ve still got to beat the Chad factor.”

Brown’s trio are all coming into the Lake George off a victory – Regal Glory a 2 3/4-length triumph in the Penn Oaks, Dogtag a 1 3/4-length decision in the Hilltop at Pimlico, and Blowout a half-length tally last month at Belmont Park in the Wild Applause.

“All three horses are really tough to separate, and I wouldn’t trade places with anyone in the race,” said Brown, who sent out the first three finishers in Saturday’s Grade 1 Diana. “Regal Glory is coming off a good race at Penn National. Wesley’s horse got us at Keeneland, but the ground was kind of funny that day, and we had to come from a little too far back.

“Dogtag has come back a much stronger horse this year after getting a freshening. Blowout beat a tough field of horses at Belmont to break through and get a stakes win, and she’s another who is training really well.”

Winter Sunset, who is Grade 3-placed in her last three starts, all for trainer Wayne Catalano, rounds out the lineup on turf, with Espresso Shot entered for the main track only.