FROM OFF THE PACE: War Like Goddess continues stretch of odds on favorite with Thursday’s Glens Falls (G2)

Few horses in recent years have been regarded with more respect than War Like Goddess. In her ten graded races since August 2021, the six-year-old mare has been odds-on (between 1-5 and 4-5) in eight of them. The only exceptions were the 2021 BC Filly & Mare Turf, in which she finished third at 2-1 odds, and last year’s BC Turf in where she ran third at odds of 7-2 while facing males.

War Like Goddess is the 3-5 morning-line favorite in the talented seven-horse field assembled for  Thursday’s Glens Falls Handicap (G2), a race she has won the past two years. The daughter of English Channel sports a 10-1-2 record in 15 career starts. She comes into the Glens Falls off the worst finish of her career, a sixth in the New York Stakes (G1) in which she finished a half-length out of third.

Virginia Joy (8-1) has the distinction of having finished ahead of War Like Goddess in two of their three meetings: holding her off by a neck in last year’s Flower Bowl (G2) and finishing a nose ahead in the recent New York Stakes. The German-bred daughter of Soldier Hollow has won three graded races since coming over from Europe two years ago.

A second German-bred entered in the Glens Falls is Amazing Grace (5-1). The grand-daughter of the great German sire Monsun kicked off her American career by winning the Orchid Stakes (G3) as the odds-on favorite back on April 1. In two starts since, Amazing Grace finished fourth in a pair of G2s at Belmont.

McKulick, in the money in all but one of ten career starts, is the second choice here at 7-2. The daughter of Frankel, a G1 winner last year as a three-year-old (Belmont Oaks Invitational), is making her third start off a seven-month layoff, having finished fifth in the Modesty (G3) and most recently third in the New York Stakes.

Vergara (12-1) is looking for her first graded win after running third in the Eatontown Stakes (G3) at Monmouth last out. Italian import Sopran Basila (15-1) won the R. G. Dick Memorial (G3) in her second U.S. start. Longshot claimer Elegant Taste (50-1) tries turf for the first time.

Channel Maker takes Bowling Green at 15-1ca

Channel Maker looked to be in deep in last Saturday’s Bowling Green Handicap. The 11-horse field included last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf winner (Rebel’s Romance); millionaire Rockemperor, who won last year’s Bowling Green and was second in 2021; and Soldier Rising, runner-up in a pair of G1s (the Man o’ War and Manhattan) coming into the race. In addition, Channel Maker had failed to finish in the money in his last seven starts.

But the nine-year-old gelding still knew how to win races, and when conditions were right and the stars properly aligned, he was capable of running to his past glory, which included an Eclipse Award in 2020. He was aided by the scratch of Rockemperor, and when Rebel’s Romance clipped heels and lost his rider – effectively knocking Soldier Rising and The Grey Wizard out of the race – Channel Maker was able to go wire to wire.

It’s fair to wonder if the $3.9 million earner would have won if Rebel’s Romance hadn’t clipped heels on the far turn. A bigger key to the race, though, was arguably the fact that Channel Maker was able to waltz through the first three-quarters in 1:16.15, leaving him with plenty left as he bounded down the stretch to win by two.

“He’s the happiest horse going to the track,” said winning trainer Bill Mott. “He doesn’t hesitate. He has his ears up, he comes back happy and he’s dappled from one end to the other. If there’s something wrong [with a horse], they don’t look like him.”