Usha, Iron Orchard make rare statebred appearances in Johnstone Stakes
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A pair of Grade 1 winners, Usha and Iron Orchard, will return to statebred company for the first time since their 2-year-old campaigns when facing six other New York-breds on Wednesday at Saratoga in the $200,000 Johnstone, a seven-furlong stakes for fillies and mares.
Usha competed for the first and only time against New York-bred competition in her 2-year-old finale, finishing second as a prohibitive favorite at Aqueduct in October 2024. Trained by Bob Baffert, Usha has flourished ever since, winning four of her seven subsequent starts, including the Grade 1 La Brea when rallying from midpack to a 5 1/4-length victory to cap her 3-year-old campaign last December at Santa Anita.
Usha has run just three times this season, with each of those starts coming at Churchill Downs. She sandwiched a game victory in the Grade 3 Winning Colors between a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff and a somewhat disappointing seventh-place finish on June 20 in the Grade 2 Chicago.
“Her last race she was just sort of lackluster,” Baffert said of Usha’s effort in the Chicago Stakes. “But when she’s really good, she’s really good. She was right up on the lead in that race, and it seems like she’s been more effective off the pace.
“I’d like to stretch her out eventually. I think she’ll go the two turns. She’s training well, this looked like a good spot for her, but you never know. We’ll just see how it works out.”
Iron Orchard, the only 3-year-old in the Johnstone lineup, was named champion New York-bred 2-year-old filly a year ago. She launched her career with three straight victories, the first two of which came at Saratoga against statebred foes, including a 6 3/4-length triumph in the Seeking the Ante Stakes.
She was purchased for $2.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-October Digital Sale by her present owners, Katie Rich Stables, following a game nose victory in the Grade 1 Frizette. She suffered her first setback several weeks later when finishing far back in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Iron Orchard was transferred from trainer Danny Gargan to Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen for her 3-year-old season. She launched her current campaign by finishing a tiring ninth after contesting the pace into the stretch of the Grade 3 Victory Ride here July 10.
There is no shortage of early speed or key contenders in the Johnstone lineup. Rail-drawn Bam’s Bliss Kiss had a six-race winning streak snapped when leaving New York for the first time to finish a distant sixth and last against open company in the Alma North Stakes earlier this summer at Laurel.
Trainer Linda Rice will have a strong hand of her own with the speedy and potent one-two punch of With the Angels and Munnings Express. With the Angels was a three-time New York-bred stakes winner at 2 before notching her most important victory earlier this year when defeating open company in one-sided fashion in the Correction Stakes. Munnings Express returns against statebred opposition for the first time since beginning a three-race winning streak with an easy optional-claiming and allowance victory in March at Aqueduct.
Sunday Girl, winner of the 2025 Correction, and the Wesley Ward-trained pair of three-time New York-bred stakes winner Landed and the red-hot Naive Melody complete the field.
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