Ward, Orseno hoping weather cooperates for Galway Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After having his first opportunity to start Love Reigns over the turf this summer at Saratoga washed away when the Coronation Cup was switched to the main track on the second day of the meet, trainer Wesley Ward is hoping history won’t repeat itself when he tries to bring her back here again as the heavy favorite in Saturday’s $150,000 Galway Stakes.

Ward, along with just about everyone else signed on for the 5 1/2-furlong Galway, may find themselves holding their collective breath right up to post time after both Wednesday and Thursday’s scheduled races were taken off the turf; more rain in the forecast for Saturday.

Love Reigns was an impressive winner of her only previous local appearance one year earlier, when registering a popular 2 1/2-length victory in the Bolton Landing. She has made only two subsequent starts, finishing eighth against males in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint before launching her 2023 campaign by overcoming an eventful trip to capture the Limestone on April 14 at Keeneland.

“She’s doing great. I just hope we get a chance to run her on Saturday,” Ward said. “In her first start this year, she got bottled up down inside, looked like she was halfway being pulled up, then a seam opened, she made a big run, and got up and beat my other filly [Lady Hollywood] right at the wire in a very game effort.”

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A field of 10 3-year-old fillies, plus two also-eligibles, signed on for the Galway on turf, including the red-hot Beauty of the Sea, who has won each of her last three starts including Monmouth Park’s Blue Sparkler on July 15. Beauty of the Sea is trained by Joe Orseno, who won the Grade 1 Diana here with Perfect String 23 years ago and had an apparent easy victory in the 2020 Troy Stakes taken away when Imprimis was disqualified and placed third.

Orseno could be shooting for a major milestone in the Galway as he enters the weekend with 1,998 career victories on his résumé. He has several live runners at both Gulfstream Park and Monmouth Park scheduled to run prior to the stakes here Saturday.

“She’s a Bucchero. Most of the ones I’ve had move up on turf and Tapeta, and she fell right in line,” Orseno said of Beauty of the Sea. “When she won her second race at Gulfstream against older horses, we felt she deserved a chance in a stakes with straight 3-year-olds and when she handled that next step, we decided to try her here. They have ‘Congratulations 2,000’ signs made up for me at Gulfstream and Monmouth, but it certainly wouldn’t bother me any if I was fortunate enough to get the big one in a stakes at Saratoga.”

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Like Ward, Orseno was sweating out the weather, as he was uncertain if he would run Beauty of the Sea if the Galway were to come off the grass.

Beauty of the Sea won a narrow decision over the multiple stakes-placed My Sweet Affair and Love Appeals in the Blue Sparkler, with both those fillies getting a rematch in the Galway.

Along with Love Reigns and Beauty of the Sea, the lineup also includes five other last-out winners, four of whom – Isabel Alexandra, Redifined, Stone Silent, and L J’s Emma – defeated older allowance competition on the turf in their most recent starts.

Reflexivity, who is on the also-eligible list, has not started since registering an easy maiden special weight victory going seven furlongs over the Belmont turf course on May 12 before subsequently switching barns and joining trainer Mike Maker’s stable earlier this summer.

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