Ways and Means earned an overdue first stakes win in the Aug. 3 Test (G1) at Saratoga and on Sunday will look to double up as the presumptive heavy favorite in the $250,000 Gallant Bloom (G2) at Aqueduct.
The 6 1/2-furlong Gallant Bloom serves as Ways and Means’ final prep for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Del Mar in November. It’s also her first stakes attempt against older rivals.
The Chad Brown-trained daughter of Practical Joke has an impeccable record of 4-3-1-0 around one turn, the lone setback being a half-length loss in last year’s Spinaway (G1) after a troubled trip. She was far from embarrassed going two turns in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) in March, losing by a length to future Grade 1 winner Power Squeeze, but was shortened up when a distant fourth to Thorpedo Anna in the Kentucky Oaks (G1).
Ways and Means will face only four others. Sterling Silver crossed the wire first by four lengths in a modest renewal of the Gallant Bloom last season, but was disqualified and placed second for interference. She’s won three of eight interim starts, including two in New York-bred stakes company.
Nic’s Style, a four-year-old who has started only three times in a career that began in May 2022, has showcased a lot of potential when she has run. Victorious in all three outings by a combined margin of 22 lengths, she will face her sternest test to date here. Like Sterling Silver, Nic’s Style is trained by Bill Mott, who has started this meet cool, going winless with his first 15 starters through Wednesday.
Hot Fudge is a multiple stakes winner over the Aqueduct strip, albeit during the less-competitive winter part of the season. The field is rounded out by the three-year-old Pacific Rose, who looks up against it from a class perspective.
The supporting feature is the $200,000 Miss Grillo (G2), a 1 1/16-mile event that will award the winner an automatic bid to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Del Mar.
Brown has won the Miss Grillo a record nine times, including last year with Hard to Justify, who followed up with a win at the Breeders’ Cup. All three of his entries — Virgin Colada, Opulent Restraint, and Marvelous Madison — graduated at Saratoga, with Virgin Colada also earning black type when a close second in the P.G. Johnson S.
“There was no pace in the race, and she was really compromised by it,” said Brown of Virgin Colada’s run in the P.G. Johnson. “She came with a nice run, and I think with more pace in the race, she’ll run her best.”
Shifty broke her maiden impressively in the Catch a Glimpse S. at Woodbine for Mark Casse, who subsequently saddled the top three finishers in the Natalma (G1), Woodbine’s leading turf race for juvenile fillies.
“We thought she was one of our better fillies and that’s why we ran her as a maiden in the stake,” Casse said. “Of all our two-year-old fillies, she’s been as impressive as anybody.”
May Day Ready made it 2-for-2 in her young career with a 1 3/4-length score in the Juvenile Fillies S. at Kentucky Downs earlier this month. Others in the mix include Kentucky Downs debut winner Correto and Rare Art, who rebounded from a debut loss to Virgin Colada to win second last out by overcoming a slow pace.
