- Saratoga Race Course: McKulick catches War Like Goddess to win Glens Falls
SARATOGA SPRINGS — War Like Goddess “didn’t run terrible,” trainer Bill Mott said.
She also didn’t run quite well enough.
Attempting to win the Grade II Glens Falls at Saratoga Race Course for the third year in a row, War Like Goddess wrestled with jockey Joel Rosario for the first half-mile, then didn’t quite have enough acceleration to hold off McKulick in the final strides.
Ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr., McKulick got up to win by a neck, perhaps appreciating the mile-and-a-half distance for the first time in her career.
She showed plenty of promise from six starts last year as a 3-year-old, winning the Grade I Belmont Oaks Invitational, but finished second by short margins four other times.
In the Glens Falls, McKulick put it all together to win for the first time in three starts this season for trainer Chad Brown.
The early pace was slow, so Ortiz and McKulick stalked the stalker, tracking just behind the 1-2 betting favorite War Like Goddess as she kept a close watch on pacesetter Elegant Taste.
“Irad rode a masterful race,” Brown said. “Early on, when War Like Goddess took position ahead of us and was a little rank, he carefully stayed behind her. When she came off the rail down the backside before the final turn, Irad cleverly got off the rail, as well, and just followed her and stayed away from the horse [Elegant Taste] that was stopping on the rail. All his moves, particularly that one down the backside, really made the difference.”
“She didn’t run terrible,” said Mott, who won three races earlier in the card, but not the big one later. “It wasn’t ideal. Maybe she needs to be covered up a little more. She was a little rank going into the first turn. They were going slow, and she was pulling a little bit today. She was maybe a little overly anxious in the race.”
McKulick was racing at a mile and a half for the first time in her career.
“Oftentimes I’ve had horses through the years that, as they got a little older, I was able to get them to run a little farther,” Brown said. “Turning 4 this year, she looks to be in that group of horses, nice horses, like Dayatthespa and Stephanie’s Kitten and Zagora.
“These are Breeders’ Cup horses, so that’s high company. Point is, when they were younger, they were a mile-and-an-eighth, mile-and-a-quarter, then when they got older, they could run farther. Hopefully, McKulick is in that category and keeps honoring Mary, who I named her after.”
McKulick was named for Brown’s long-time office manager, Mary McKulick, who died of cancer at the age of 67 in 2020.
“She was my bookkeeper and the first person I hired,” Brown said. “It was just me and her on Day 1. Then we added from there. She was a very integral part of the foundation of my company, and I really wouldn’t be standing here today if I didn’t have somebody of her expertise in bookkeeping and organization and management.
“I needed somebody with a lot of wisdom, because I might’ve learned how to train horses under [Bobby] Frankel, but I didn’t know how to run my business that way, and Mary really took me in and made sure we were organized.”
Sopran Basilea finished fourth in the Glens Falls, but was pulled up by Manny Franco on the clubhouse turn and was euthanized with a catastrophic injury to her right front leg, according to the New York Racing Association senior examining veterinarian.
It was the second horse death of the meet due to a racing injury. Blame It On Mary was vanned off after being pulled up on the turf course on July 26 and later euthanized.
