McKulick uses lake kick to take rainy Waya
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McKulick pushed past pacesetting stablemate Idea Generation in the later stages to win the Grade 3, $200,000 Waya by two lengths over that one Saturday at Aqueduct. It was another 2 1/4 lengths back in third to Sister Otoole.
The Waya was scratched down to a four-horse field and run over a turf course that was rated as yielding. The 1 3/8 miles race for fillies and mares was the first of six stakes on the card.
McKulick ($2.80) stalked the pace in third as Idea Generation led through fractions of 25.14 seconds for the opening quarter, 51.40 for the half-mile, 1:17.23 for six furlongs, and 1:43 for the mile. McKulick went after the leader on the final turn, caught that one in the stretch and went on to cover the distance in 2:20.10.
MucKulick earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure for the Waya.
The win came one start after McKulick finished second in the Flower Bowl behind wire-to-wire winner Parnac, who was fourth Saturday.
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. was aboard McKulick for Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown.
"She really liked the soft ground,” Ortiz Jr. told the publicity department at the New York Racing Association. “I think she appreciated it and the pace. Last time, there was no pace in the race and it cost her that race, I think. Today, the other filly of the same connections put an honest pace and a better pace than last time and she really liked it. She always gives me a good kick and she stays on and keeps coming."
McKulick is a Grade 1-winning daughter of Frankel. She was winning the fourth stakes race of her career Saturday in an effort that improved her record to 5 for 13 for earnings of $1.6 million.
McKulick gave Brown his fifth straight win in the Waya and seventh overall in the race, according to NYRA.
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