Ways and Means. (Angelo Leito)
By Keith McCalmont
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Klaravich Stables’ Kentucky homebred Ways and Means loomed large in the turn and sprinted clear with authority to capture Friday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Bed o’ Roses, a seven-furlong sprint for older filles and mares on Day Three of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown and piloted by Flavien Prat, the 4-year-old Practical Joke bay improved her record at the Spa to 5-4-1-0, led by a score in last year’s Grade 1 Test.
Ways and Means, by the Brown-trained and Klaravich co-campaigned dual Spa Grade 1-winner Practical Joke and out of the stakes-winning Warrior’s Reward mare Strong Incentive, banked $165,000 in victory, while improving her record to 10-5-2-1. The near millionaire was a stylish debut winner here in August 2023 and Friday’s victory brought her purse earnings to $997,500.
“She’s very special,” Seth Klarman, proprietor of Klaravich Stables. “We bred her, she’s only four and 5-for-10 now with just under a million dollars in winnings. She loves it here at Saratoga. The first thing is realizing she’s special in the first place. Her debut was so great.”
Graded stakes-winner Irish Maxima, who entered on a three-race win streak, wasn’t sharpest away from the gate but rushed up the rail from the inside post under Frankie Pennington to mark the opening quarter-mile in 22.46 seconds over the fast main track with Ways and Means keeping close watch to her outside from second position.
Irish Maxima led the field into the turn with Ways and Means traveling comfortably and dual graded stakes-winner Scylla enjoying a ground-saving trip in third under Hall of Famer Joel Rosario as the half-mile elapsed in 45.16.
Ways and Means floated to the lead late in the turn under no urging as Irish Maxima retreated and Scylla surged up the rail to appear the main danger, but there was no catching the brilliant bay filly, who, with but a single right-handed reminder, coasted home a 7 3/4-length winner in a final time of 1:21.11. She returned $3 for a $2 win bet.
“She got herself into a good place right away,” said Prat, who picked up his third win on the card. “I felt like she was traveling good all the way around. She gave me a good run when I asked her to get going.”
Scylla completed the exacta by 6 1/4-lengths over Jody’s Pride, with Miss Justify, Irish Maxima, Justique and St. Benedicts prep rounding out the order of finish.
Brown said he was thrilled with the effort from Ways and Means.
“She loves Saratoga, and she’s a super nice horse,” said Brown, who picked up his fifth win in this event following past success with Lewis Bay [2018], Separationofpowers [2019], Goodnight Olve [2023] and Accede [2024]. “She’s won on a sloppy track before, but now that we’re getting to run her more, she now has 10 career starts, you can see she does prefer a fast track.
“I was confident she was training very well, but I’ll tell you, entering that final turn there she was catching a lot of pressure between horses and Scylla is a nice horse and was closer today and getting a nice ground-saving trip,” he added. “I thought maybe it would be quite a showdown in the middle of the stretch there but [Ways and Means] did burst away from there, which was impressive.”
The victory made amends for Klaravich Stables’ promising sophomore Strategic Focus being disqualified from victory just one race earlier. Klarman said the DQ and quality Bed o’ Roses field reminded him that there are no guarantees in racing.
“You’re still nervous with a lot of great fillies in that race,” Klarman said. “There was a lone speed [Irish Maxima] on the rail who didn’t break great but still got the lead. You sort of felt like the jockey was inching up and under control and that’s where we knew she was going to get this done. But you never know until the wire, which is what they proved in the previous race.”
Ways and Means won 3-of-6 starts last year, including a Spa allowance versus elders last June that earned a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure and a four-length romp in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom in September at Belmont at the Big A.
She entered from a gritty third in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff in May at Churchill Downs, while racing off a six-month layoff dating to a close fifth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar.
Brown indicated that Ways and Means would likely target the Grade 1, $500,000 Resorts World Casino Ballerina on August 23 at the Spa, with the possibility of a prep race in-between.
“The Ballerina is very late into the season and I’m going to try to figure out what to do with her before then,” Brown said.
Live racing resumes Saturday at Saratoga for a blockbuster Belmont Stakes Day program that includes five Grade 1 events among eight stakes in total on the 14-race card, culminating with the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets [Race 13] and featuring two Breeders’ Cup “Win And You’re In” qualifiers for 3-year-olds and up: the Grade 1, $1 million Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap [Race 8] going one mile out of the Wilson Chute [Dirt Mile] and the 5 1/2-furlong turf Grade 1, $500,000 Jaipur [Race 9] on the Mellon turf [Turf Sprint].
A stacked card also includes top-flight racing with the Grade 1, $500,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun [Race 11], and the Grade 1, $1 million Resorts World Casino Manhattan [Race 12]. The stakes action kicks off with the Grade 2, $300,000 Wonder Again [Race 6] and includes the Grade 3, $400,000 True North [Race 7] and the Grade 3, $300,000 Pennine Ridge [Race 10]. First post on Saturday is 10:45 a.m. Eastern with admission gates open to the public at 9 a.m.
