Sunday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: R Disaster the one to catch in Honorable Miss
Saratoga | Race 9 | Post Time 5:44 p.m. (ET)
The Grade 2 Honorable Miss drew a pretty strong field this year, bolstered by the presence of two runners who have placed at the Grade 1 level. That pair, Scylla (#4) and Jody's Pride (#9), are both exiting last month's Bed O Roses, which was dominated by the talented Ways and Means, who achieved an outstanding 129 TimeformUS Speed Figure in victory. Both Scylla and Jody's Pride are getting some class relief as they get away from that foe here. However, they each have some obstacles to overcome, since neither has raced over this short a distance since very early in their careers. Both are undefeated going 6 furlongs or shorter, but their connections have focused on longer races since then.
Scylla is a little more trustworthy, since she ran quite well chasing home Ways and Means while well clear of her other rivals in that Bed O Roses. She has a versatile running style and should be able to adapt to any pace scenario. Jody's Pride is a little less trustworthy after she checked in a mildly disappointing third last time. She traveled well on the far turn and looked like she was in position to stride approaching the quarter pole, but she failed to produce a stretch kick, barely holding on to third at the wire. She is a filly who has gone in and out of form at different points in her career, and I wonder if she can bounce back again.
My top pick is the speedy R Disaster (#2), who is shown leading on the TimeformUS Pace Projector. While there are some other fillies who can chase the pace in this spot, none have displayed the kind of speed this Saffie Joseph runner possesses. She's incredibly consistent, having never finished out of the exacta in her career, and even her recent losses have been strong efforts. She was perhaps best when just missing in the Hurricane Bertie two back, where she got caught up chasing a stablemate through unreasonably fast fractions and still fought on when challenged late. Her Vagrancy effort was also solid in defeat, and last time she bounced back with a victory against overmatched rivals at Delaware. Her 122 TimeformUS Speed Figure stacks up very favorably against the other short prices, and I expect her to be awfully tough to catch.