Motion filly rested, ready for Waya run

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The initial disappointment of having to scratch Sweet Science out of a stakes race three weeks ago may prove serendipitous for trainer Graham Motion, who on Friday will send out Sweet Science in search of her first stakes victory in the $70,000 Waya Stakes at Saratoga.

Motion said he was pointing for the Waya, but he wanted to get in a race before that, the Locust Grove Handicap at Churchill Downs on July 15. Sweet Science got a touch of colic just before that race, however, and was scratched, so she will be coming into the Waya without a start since May 28.

"She's a slight filly, so I try and space her races out pretty good," Motion said Wednesday afternoon. "She shipped to Churchill for the stake at the end of the meet there, but we had to scratch her. The fact that she'll now have extra time might end up working more for her than against her."

The Waya, at 1 1/2 miles on turf, drew 16 fillies and mares who have not won a stakes race this year. A maximum of 12 can run over the inner course.

Sweet Science, who has made her last three starts at 1 1/2 miles, has been conservatively managed by Motion. She did not race in a graded stakes until April, when she was a close third in the Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland. She most recently was second in the Top Corsage at Churchill.

"I feel like she's a filly who has been sitting on the cusp of winning a stakes," Motion said. "This seemed like a good opportunity, being as there's a little restriction on it."

, who has won once in three starts since being repatriated from France, was third in the 1 1/8-mile Locust Grove last time out. Before leaving France, she won at 12 furlongs.

Trainer Christophe Clement has a two-pronged attack with the French-bred Milwaukee and the British import Shared Dreams.

, who was placed in listed stakes in France, came here at the end of 2005 and was seventh in the Grade 2 La Prevoyante Handicap at Calder on Dec. 17. She has not raced since then, but has been in steady training at Saratoga and will be adding Lasix for the first time.

"It is ambitious to run a mile and a half," Clement said, "but I could not find another race."

Shared Dreams comes off a victory against a second-level allowance field at Belmont on July 16, her second win in four starts since being imported from Great Britain.

"She's a nice filly," Clement said. "She is improving. But I don't know if she is good enough. We will find out."