Putting streak on the line, Miss Vyvyanne could have company up front
:quality(75))
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The speedy Miss Vyvyanne, who is undefeated in her last six starts on grass, will face her sternest turf test yet when making her Saratoga debut Friday in the $200,000 Smart and Fancy Stakes. The 5 1/2-furlong Smart and Fancy drew a field of nine that also features key contenders Zeitlos and Capturing.
Miss Vyvyanne’s current turf win streak dates back to June of 2025, with her most recent performance arguably her best yet. In a popular gate-to-wire, two-length victory on June 27 at Woodbine in the Grade 2 Highlander Stakes, she earned a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure.
The key questions Miss Vyvyanne will have to answer in the Smart and Fancy will be the added distance and the presence of some other speed types in the lineup. Miss Vyvyanne has registered each of her last seven victories going five furlongs while on the lead at every call, but she figures to be tested right from the outset on Friday by Itzel, who breaks adjacent to her from post 7.
“She’s a Florida-bred and there’s nothing for her at Woodbine coming up sprinting on the grass,” said trainer Gail Cox, who claimed Miss Vyvyanne for $32,000 nearly 14 months ago at Woodbine. “She’s doing very well, so we felt this was a good time to come down here and try a race like this. It’s a step, up I think, and she has to go 5 1/2 rather than five. But we feel this is the right time to try it.”
Cox admitted she was concerned Miss Vyvyanne could find herself in a rare battle for the early lead if the field holds together at post time.
“I’m always a little worried when seeing other speed in her races, but she’s just so fast herself, it’s never usually a problem,” Cox said. “Although I’m not sure she wouldn’t sit off if she had to.”
Pietro Moran, who has been aboard Miss Vyvyanne for each of her last five victories, will also make the trip down from Woodbine to take his regular seat aboard the 6-year-old mare on Saturday.
The prospect of a hotly contested pace scenario could make the late-running Zeitlos the horse to beat despite the fact that she has never won a race on grass or one over any surface since capturing the Skipat at Pimlico 15 months ago. She has, however, been graded stakes-placed twice in three previous starts over Saratoga turf, having finished second here in each of the last two renewals of the Grade 2 Caress.
Capturing also figures to garner plenty of support as the only member of this field with a win over the course. She had to work hard to earn that victory, rallying from mid-pack to a game nose victory in a second-level allowance dash on July 10.
Like Miss Vyvyanne, Itzel is rarely outrun for the early lead, having been in front in each of her last six starts. Those include a second-place finish in the Hummingbird Stakes over a yielding course just 13 days ago at Ellis Park.
Handicappers will have to figure out what to do with the multiple graded stakes winner Praying, who makes her turf debut on Friday after finishing a well-beaten sixth and last in the seven-furlong, Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses here on June 5. Praying worked for the first time on grass at the Oklahoma training track a week ago, breezing a very easy four furlongs in 48.96, per Daily Racing Form’s clocking.
The remainder of the field includes Delightful Flame, who projects to be on or with the pace in the run down the backstretch, Me Governor, Le Amazonia, and Ratu Jawa. Munnings Express, a New York-bred stakes winner in her previous start, is the lone main-track-only entry in the lineup.