Brightwork triumphant in her return to the races (Chelsea Durand)
By Keith McCalmont – NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – WSS Racing’s Brightwork made a successful return to the scene of her biggest career win with a determined neck score over Two Sharp in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Prioress, a six-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by John Ortiz and piloted by Luis Saez, the Outwork bay, returning from a nearly 10-month layoff, dueled the length of the stretch to the outside of 4-5 mutuel favorite Two Sharp, holding the advantage in the final jumps.
Brightwork, winner of the Grade 1 Spinaway here last September, was slated to return in the local Grade 1 Test presented by Ticketmaster on August 3 but was a late scratch after flipping in the paddock.
“We were just very blessed that we had another opportunity to get another win at Saratoga. This was not the original plan, but God had his plans and things happened for a reason,” Ortiz said. “She looked like she was tiring very hard at the end. She dug in. It didn’t surprise me how much heart she had at the end. It was good to see such guts in an athlete like that. It was just a beautiful race.
“She is astonishing,” Ortiz added. “Just to see how her heart truly is, how big it truly is, was amazing.”
Two Sharp, making her stakes debut from an 11 1/4-length second out graduation on August 2 here, led through splits of 22.55 seconds and 45.92 over the good main track with Brightwork, who exited the outermost post 8, tracking in second.
Miuccia, who broke alertly from the inside post under Irad Ortiz, Jr., was taken off the rail and angled outside to track the front duo through the turn from fourth to the outside of Carmelina.
Saez gave Brightwork her cue late in the turn as the Junior Alvarado-piloted Two Sharp spun the field in and set up an epic stretch battle with neither filly willing to give way. The talented sophomores fought on gamely to the wire with Brightwork taking command approaching the eighth pole and staying on strong while responding to left-handed encouragement in the final sixteenth to secure the win in a final time of 1:10.86.
“The frontrunner was a pretty tough filly, a nice filly. The key with her [Brightwork] was to be stuck in right behind her and make the move a little early. If we let the filly go in front, maybe we wouldn’t catch her,” Saez said.
It was three-quarter lengths back to the rallying Miuccia in third with Autumn Evening, Carmelina, Tricky Temper, Lady Moscato and Belle’s Blue Bell rounding out the order of finish. Pacific Rose was scratched.
Brightwork enjoyed a tremendous juvenile campaign winning 4-of-6 starts, including the six-furlong Listed Debutante at Ellis Park along with Spa scores in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 3 Adirondack and seven-furlong Spinaway. She finished off-the-board when stretched out for a pair of Grade 1s to close out her campaign when fifth in the Alcibiades at Keeneland and sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November at Santa Anita.
Saez, back aboard for the first time since the Debutante, credited Ortiz for having the talented bay prepared for a return to sprinting at the Spa.
“Brightwork is a pretty tough filly and John was working pretty hard with her. She was ready,” Saez said. “She kind of got a little tired at the end, but she came from a long layoff. She’s supposed to get tired. Today, she was pretty calm [in the paddock] and she ran a pretty good race.”
Alvarado said the Phil Bauer-trained Two Sharp performed well in her stakes debut.
“It’s only her third start and being on the rail when that horse [Brightwork] came to her outside, she never wanted to switch leads for me,” Alvarado said. “But she was a fighter – she wasn’t giving up on me and I couldn’t make her switch leads, but I tried to just get to the wire first. She was very game; she did fight on. She might have hesitated a little bit, but we can move forward from this race.”
Bred in Kentucky by Wynnstay, Inc. and H. Allen Poindexter, Brightwork banked $110,000 in victory while improving her record to 7-5-0-0. She returned $7.10 for a $2 win bet.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with a 13-race card featuring the Listed $150,000 Bernard Baruch in Race 11 and the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup in Race 12. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.
