Amidst Waves doubles up on stakes wins in the Bolton Landing Aug. 20 at Saratoga (NYRA/Coglianese)
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Amidst Waves, a gutsy winner of the $150,000 Bolton Landing August 20, is enjoying her time in Saratoga as the connections continue to mull over where to run the multiple stakes-winning 2-year-old filly next.
Owned by the partnership of R.A. Hill Stable, BlackRidge Stables, Swinbank Stables, Big Tufff Stables and Black Type Thoroughbreds, Amidst Waves extended her win streak to three races in the Bolton Landing, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint that came less than a month after her victory in the July 29 Colleen at Monmouth Park.
“We haven’t done much with her. She walked a couple days and she’s jogged the last three days. I ran her back quick off of Monmouth. The filly looks good, it’s just a matter of picking out where to run,” trainer George Weaver said. “If it’s a little too quick to go back to Kentucky Downs, maybe we’ll try the Matron. We’ll look at that, and I think there might be a couple races at Keeneland, too.”
The Grade 3, $150,000 Matron sprinting six furlongs on the grass is scheduled for October 8 during the Belmont Park at Aqueduct fall meet.
Amidst Waves, by Midshipman, was sent off as the favorite in the Bolton Landing but was fractious in the gate and found herself trailing all but one horse for the first three furlongs. Once settled, she came with a four-wide run into the stretch and emerged from a three-way photo finish a nose in front Crown Imperial.
“I felt like I was holding aces. I sent [jockey] Irad [Ortiz Jr.] out there and told him what I thought, and he went out and executed,” Weaver said. “When you go into a race and you’re pretty sure you’ve got the best horse and you get the job done, it feels good. There’s many times that something else happens.”
Weaver is enjoying a solid summer at Saratoga with nine wins from 36 starters (25 percent) heading into Sunday’s program, ranking ninth in victories and 11th in purse earnings with $708,900. He also has six seconds, including Sacred Wish in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks July 22 and Let’s Go Big Blue in the Rick Violette August 17, and three thirds.
“It’s been a pretty good meet. We’ve got the nine wins and had a bunch of horses running well and not winning,” Weaver said. “This is a very hard place to win. Over time we’ve had a lot of really good years and it seems like for two or three years before this meet, we’ve been kind of slow – three, four, five wins.
“You’ve just got to have the right horses,” he added. “We’re doing the same things every year. Every trainer learns as they go along. Basically we’re executing the program, you’ve just got to have the right horses for the right races. And, a little bit of luck.”
