Ten maiden winners meet in Grade 3 With Anticipation

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – An evenly matched and pretty diverse group of 2-year-olds, all of whom are still eligible for their first-level allowance condition, will get a chance to become graded stakes winners when squaring off Wednesday at Saratoga in the $175,000 With Anticipation Stakes.

The 10 maiden winners who will compete in the Grade 3 With Anticipation have earned their diplomas at six different tracks at distances ranging from five furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. The likely favorites, Battle of Normandy, Our Dream Rye’d, and Lachaise, have the advantage of not only winning over the local course but at the 1 1/16-mile distance of the With Anticipation.

Battle of Normandy won at first asking here Aug. 6 for trainer Shug McGaughey, rallying from several lengths off the pace to a convincing 2 1/4-length victory under jockey Kendrick Carmouche. A $500,000 yearling purchase at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton sale here, Battle of Normandy is by four-time Grade 1 winner City of Light, who never raced on turf, and out of Adorable Miss, a multiple stakes winner on grass during her racing career.

“He did surprise me a little in his first start, I didn’t know if he could win first time out or not, especially going a mile and one-sixteenth,” McGaughey admitted. “But I thought he ran a great race and Kendrick rode him perfectly. This is the next logical step, and he’s trained really well since his first start.

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“He has a high energy level and his breeze the other day was very good on turf. I’m really looking forward to running him.”

McGaughey’s one concern is that Battle of Normandy drew the rail for his stakes debut.

“Naturally, I’d rather he wasn’t on the inside,” McGaughey said. “The one thing I need to do is get it into Kendrick’s head that he doesn’t need to be sent because we’ve got the one hole. Hopefully, he can get away from there and get good position from where he can finish, like he did the first time.”

Our Dream Rye’d got a good education launching his career over the main track at Churchill Downs before stretching out and switching to grass to win his maiden here July 30. He finished full of run from more than a dozen lengths off the pace to win by 1 1/4 lengths in a race flattered when the third-place finisher returned to win his maiden under similar conditions on the grass here just three weeks later.

Lachaise was hung wide much of the way but managed to overcome the ground loss when rallying to a popular 1 1/4-length victory while facing statebreds as the tepid 5-2 favorite here Aug. 4.

Andthewinneris (Keeneland), Bourbon Therapy (Indiana Downs), El Conejito (Monmouth Park), Bramble Blaze (Monmouth Park), Quincy Cafe (by disqualification at Laurel Park), and Boppy O (Gulfstream Park) all posted maiden victories out of town.

Boppy O is the only member of the lineup with graded stakes experience, having returned off his maiden victory to finish a distant 10th in the Grade 3 Sanford here earlier this summer. The With Anticipation will be his first start on grass.