War Like Goddess powers home in Bewitch Stakes
LEXINGTON, Ky. – War Like Goddess ran her record to four wins in five career starts by easily besting a field of 10 other fillies and mares in Friday’s Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland Racecourse.
Ridden confidently by Julien Leparoux for trainer Bill Mott, War Like Goddess merely loped around the course during the first lap of the 1 1/2-mile race, but she steered out of cover at the top of the stretch to an open lane on the outside and blew by her rivals effortlessly. She ran the race in 2:29.21 over a good course without batting an eyelash, and ran the last quarter in less than 23 seconds.
“She’s very quick,” Leparoux said after the race.
Delta’s Kingdom, also trained by Mott, was second, beaten 3 3/4 lengths. Pass the Plate, who charged late in an attempt at second, was a neck back in third. Kalifornia Queen was another neck back in fourth.
The Bewitch was the second straight Grade 3 stakes win for War Like Goddess, an English Channel 4-year-old out of the North Light mare Mighty North, bred by Keeneland’s neighbor, Calumet Farm. On March 27, she got up just in time to win the Grade 3 Orchid at Gulfstream Park, winning by a nose at odds of 5.60-1.
She started her career in style, winning her debut at Churchill Downs on Sept. 26 last year and then following that up with a win in a first-level allowance at the same track a month later. Both races were on the turf, and in both, War Like Goddess came from way back.
“That’s her natural way of running,” Mott said after the race.
She was freshened over the winter and finished fifth in her comeback race, the Grade 3 The Very One on Feb. 27 at Gulfstream.
The Bewitch didn’t look like it would set up well for a closer, given the lack of early speed in the field, but bettors still made War Like Goddess the 1.30-to-1 favorite. The longshot Three Flamingos led for nearly the entire race, posting fractions of 24.46, 49.73, 1:15.96, and 1:41.73 into the final turn. Three Flamingos was trailed throughout that time by Dominga and Dalika, who eventually finished fifth.
War Like Goddess earned $150,000 for the win and now has earned $306,156 for her owner, George Krikorian. She was a $30,000 purchase as a 2-year-old.
Mott said after the race that War Like Goddess was a “spindly” filly as a 2-year-old but that she eventually filled out, accounting for the late start to her career.
“She’s really come around,” Mott said.