No Show Sammy Jo takes another swing in Glens Falls
?q=100)
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Graham Motion went into the year thinking No Show Sammy Jo could be his top distance female turf horse. To date, it hasn’t worked out that way, the 5-year-old mare having gone 0 for 3 in 2025.
Coming off the best of her three efforts this year, No Show Sammy Jo will be given another opportunity to show Motion wasn’t wrong when she starts in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga. The 1 1/2-mile turf race drew a field of eight, three from the Miguel Clement barn.
From June 2023 to September 2024, No Show Sammy Jo went 4 for 4, a streak that came to an end when she lost the Grade 3 Long Island Stakes at Aqueduct by a nose to Be Your Best in November. That race, and her one-length defeat to La Mehana last time out in an allowance race at Aqueduct – both at 1 3/8 miles – showed that No Show Sammy Jo can handle marathon distances.
In her first two starts of the year, No Show Sammy Jo finished seventh in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland and sixth in the Grade 1 Gamely at Santa Anita.
Motion second-guessed himself bringing No Show Sammy Jo back in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley, a race run over pretty soft course. In the Gamely, No Show Sammy Jo chased a very hot early pace and backed up.
In the allowance, No Show Sammy Jo was on the lead through dawdling fractions but couldn’t see it out.
“Her last race was a big improvement, though I’m not sure she wants to be on the lead,” Motion said.
There are a couple of possible targets for No Show Sammy Jo in the Glens Falls.
The Great Britain-bred Long Ago was a front-running winner of a second-level allowance race going 1 3/8 miles at Churchill Downs on June 11. Trainer William Morey and owner Chris Nolan claimed the 5-year-old mare out of that race and ran her back 18 days later in the Anchorage Stakes going 1 1/8 miles at Churchill where she finished third, beaten three-quarters of a length by Pin Up Betty.
“We were happy with the race at Churchill. We’re excited to try her going longer, that’s why we’re here,” Morey said. “I think she fits in there. There are some good mares in there, but she’ll give them a go.”
Jose Ortiz rides Long Ago from post 5.
Clement sends out the trio of La Mehana, Sacaya, and Bellezza in the Glens Falls. Of that group, Sacaya is the one most likely to be forwardly placed, Clement said.
“She should be running better than she is,” he said. “She’s a bit one-paced. She needs to be forwardly placed.”
Clement said Sacaya has been training with some of his better horses, including the multiple Grade 1-winning male Far Bridge.
The best horse Clement sends out in the Glens Falls is La Mehana, who despite being fifth on the middle of the far turn, ran down No Show Sammy Jo in the Aqueduct allowance. La Mehana had some trouble at the start of the Sheepshead Bay in May, which was won by the Clement-trained Bellezza. Before the Sheepshead Bay, La Mehana won the Via Borghese Stakes in December, then had a trio of third-place finishes in graded marathon stakes at Gulfstream, including a neck loss in the La Prevoyante on Jan. 25.
Bellezza finished third behind She Feels Pretty and Beach Bomb in the Grade 1 New York, with Clement saying, “I’m not totally sure she cared for the bog.”
Immensitude, trained by Bill Mott, is seeking her first win in this country in what will be her 10th start. She was a three-time winer in Europe.
Dazzling Doctor and Lady Firefoot finished third and sixth, respectively, in the June allowance race in which La Mehana beat No Show Sammy Jo.
The Glens Falls goes as race 7 on a 10-race card that begins 1:10 p.m.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.