Wavell Avenue sitting on ready for Bed o' Roses

Wavell Avenue came a long way in nine starts last year. She started 2015 with a first-level optional win going two turns over the Aqueduct inner track and ended it with an emphatic victory at Keeneland in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

When the Eclipse Award votes for champion female sprinter were counted, Wavell Avenue finished a close second (98-90) to La Verdad, whom she beat in the Breeders’ Cup but who had defeated her by a half-length in the Gallant Bloom in September.

On Saturday at Belmont Park, Wavell Avenue will be a solid favorite to score her first victory of the season in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses Handicap at Belmont Park.

Trained by Chad Brown, Wavell Avenue has started twice this year. She rallied from 10th to finish a hard-trying third to Sheer Drama and Stopchargingmaria in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland in April and then came back four weeks later to be fourth to runaway winner Taris in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs.

“I brought her back off a layoff in a very tough race at Keeneland, and I thought she ran well,” Brown said. “When she came back at Churchill, she was a little flat. I don’t think she ran her race that day. Maybe she bounced a little.”

Brown has worked Wavell Avenue five times in the seven weeks since the Humana Distaff and is confident she is ready for a top effort in the seven-furlong Bed o’ Roses.

“We’ve given her a strong series of works,” Brown said. “I have no excuses.”

Wavell Avenue is the 123-pound highweight in the $150,000 Bed o’ Roses and will concede six to nine pounds. The six-horse field also includes Bar of Gold, By the Moon, West Coast Chick, Pangburn, and Mayla.

Bed o’ Roses, Race 9

Key contenders

Wavell Avenue, by Harlington

Last 3 Beyers: 87-96-95

◗ She is only 1 for 4 at seven furlongs, but that win came in the Breeders’ Cup. The distance suits her late-running style.

Bar of Gold, by Medaglia d’Oro

Last 3 Beyers: 86-87-73

◗ Trainer John Kimmel dropped her into New York-bred company to win the Critical Eye on May 30.

◗ She turns back in distance from a mile to seven-eighths.

◗ She has finished second in the Grade 1 Test, Grade 2 Prioress, and Grade 2 Raven Run. She is overdue for her first graded win.

By the Moon, by Indian Charlie

Last 3 Beyers: 85-84-92

◗ She’s somewhat of a sleeper as she began her 4-year-old season this year by finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Distaff.

◗ Trainer Michelle Nevin has put a strong series of seven works into her in the 10 weeks since the Distaff, and it would be a mistake to overlook her.

◗ Paulassilverlining, her stablemate, won the Distaff and came back to win the Grade 3 Vagrancy. Distaff runner-up Cavorting has since won the Grade 2 Ruffian and Grade 1 Ogden Phipps. And Bar of Gold, who finished third in the Distaff, has since won the Critical Eye.

West Coast Chick, by Malibu Moon

Last 3 Beyers: 89-90-74

◗ Jumped up to finish second to Paulassilverlining in the Vagrancy at 11-1 for trainer Nick Zito.

◗ May make the lead here.

Pangburn, by Congrats

Last 3 Beyers: 90-86-81

◗ Her trainer, Tony Dutrow, won this race in 2010 with Rightly So and in 2009 with Seattle Smooth.