R Distaster has work toward return in Ballerina
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – R Disaster, who has not started since turning in the defining performance of her career, a 2 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 2, worked four furlongs in 47.93 seconds here Friday in preparation for her expected return in the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 29.
R Disaster broke at the three-eighths pole, went in 35.65 to the wire before continuing out strongly without urging into the turn. The work was just the second for R Disaster since she earned a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure for her gate-to-wire triumph over Ways and Means in the Derby City.
“Very good work for just the second one back. She wasn’t even blowing when she returned to the barn,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. commented.
Joseph said his original plan was to run R Disaster here in the Honorable Miss earlier this summer as a prep for the Ballerina, only to have her suffer a setback that forced her to miss the race.
“Obviously it’s not an ideal situation having missed the prep, but one thing we’ve learned about this filly is that she does good doing less,” Joseph explained. “We found ourselves in a similar situation with her before the Gallant Bloom last year at Aqueduct. She went into the race with only a single work and then ran what up to that point was the best race of her career.”
Joseph also said that in all likelihood, he will bypass the Grade 1 Alabama here on Aug. 22 with My Miss Mo to await the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion at Parx on Sept. 19. My Miss Mo has not breezed since winning the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks with a lifetime-best 93 Beyer on July 25.
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