Nice as Pie, B G Warrior headline stacked Wishing Well
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Nice as Pie and B G Warrior own five stakes wins and another five stakes placings at Turfway Park. But the path to the winner’s circle of the $125,000 Wishing Well Stakes on Saturday night does not necessarily go through them.
The competitive field for the 6 1/2-furlong Tapeta race for fillies and mares also includes Awesome Treat, a recent local stakes winner over those two consistent runners; additional Turfway stakes winners Julias Dream and Sunday Shoes; Opera Mundi, who looks to be finding her footing in the U.S.; and Lithe Spirit, who is on the upswing and will be making her stakes debut.
Nice as Pie won all four of her starts at Turfway in early 2024, including the Valdale and Serena’s Song Stakes. She turned in some creditable efforts the remainder of the year while running in turf and synthetic stakes.
In her return to Turfway, the filly was third in the Holiday Inaugural Stakes on Dec. 14, making up ground late while beaten less than three lengths. The winner, Awesome Treat, was sent away as a longshot despite being a stakes winner on the Ellis Park turf last summer. Awesome Treat earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 92 in the Inaugural, easily the top last-out number in the field. Nice as Pie was given an 85.
Sunday Shoes finished 1 1/2 lengths behind Nice as Pie in fourth. It was her first defeat at Turfway after winning her first three starts at the track, including the 2023 Serena’s Song.
B G Warrior is the defending winner of the Wishing Well. She followed that victory up by winning the Queen Stakes in March 2023 at Turfway, but she has not won since while competing in graded stakes on both turf and dirt. Most recently, she was 10th in the Holiday Inaugural, coming up empty after pressing a hot early pace of 21.61 seconds and 44.36. The race was her first for trainer Rodolphe Brisset. Perhaps more familiarity will help her improve Saturday.
B G Warrior is one of the pace-setting or pace-pressing types in this field, along with Into Love and Julias Dream. The latter won the 2023 Gowell in her lone prior trip outside California and is making her first start in more than 11 months.
Nice as Pie will need some some pace to set up her late run. Opera Mundi and Lithe Spirit also won their most recent outings from off the pace.
Opera Mundi, who previously raced in France, made her first stateside start for Brendan Walsh in the Grade 2 Valley View at a mile on the Keeneland turf in October. She was very rank, clipped heels at one point, and finished ninth. In her next outing, going 6 1/2 furlongs in a Dec. 5 Turfway allowance, she was off late, was seventh at the midway point, but wound up clearing the field to win by 1 1/2 lengths. With these experiences in the U.S. under her belt, and with a series of good works, she appears to be rounding into solid form.
Lithe Spirit is also on the upswing, having won back-to-back races with career-best Beyers of 75 and 81, respectively. She earned the 81 in her Turfway debut, rallying from sixth in the stretch to be up by a half-length over Into Love in an optional-claiming race.
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