Zipse: Spinaway favorite Ways and Means could be special

In one of the most impressive races this summer at Saratoga, Ways and Means made her debut look embarrassingly easy as the daughter of Practical Joke romped home by a dozen lengths.

In doing so, the well-bred filly stole thunder from Brightwork, the impressive winner of the Adirondack Stakes (G3) later in the card. We won’t need to wait long to see which filly is better. The two juvenile fillies will have an early showdown in Sunday’s Spinaway Stakes (G1).

That Ways and Means won her debut outing four weeks ago was no surprise, as she was bet down to odds of 7-10, but the way she won was eye-opening. Trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Flavien Prat, the bay filly was bumped hard at the break in the six-furlong race.

She recovered quickly and moved into a stalking position in fifth down the backstretch. Under little urging from her jockey, Ways and Means set sail midway on the turn and quickly took over the race. Exercising complete authority over her competition, she cantered home the easiest kind of winner in racehorse time of 1:10.51.

Not waiting long to test her against better horses, her connections look to have her become a Grade 1 winner less than a month later. Standing in her way will be nine other well-intentioned young fillies led by the undefeated Brightwork.

A daughter of Outwork, Brightwork has won three races already for trainer John Ortiz. Her wins came a maiden at Keeneland, the Debutante Stakes at Ellis Park and then her five-length triumph in the Adirondack.

As good as Brightwork has been, I struggle to believe that the two-time stakes winner was the best 2-year-old filly on that card four weeks ago. Ways and Means was that impressive.

Owned and bred by Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, Ways and Means has all the pedigree you would want in a budding star. Her sire Practical Joke is a Grade 1-winning son of Into Mischief and is quickly becoming a top stallion.

Her dam Strong Incentive, may be even more impressive. A daughter of Warrior's Reward, she was a stakes winner in only six career starts for Brown and Klarman eight years ago. Motherhood has suited her even better.

Today’s Spinaway could give her a third graded stakes-winner already. The closely related half-brother to Ways and Means, Highly Motivated, who is by Into Mischief, was a stakes winner at 2 and 4. He also was defeated by the two-time champion Essential Quality by a narrow margin in the Blue Grass Stakes (G2).

Their half-sister, Surge Capacity, by Flintshire, also looks to be a real talent. In three career starts on the grass, she is already a graded-stakes winner, having scored in the Lake George Stakes (G3) earlier this meet at Saratoga.

Although her parents are emerging stars in the breeding shed, and her older siblings have proven to be very nice horses, none of them had a debut performance quite like Ways and Means.

Defined as “methods and resources for achieving something,” Ways and Means the horse could make that an understated description of her racing career.

Won in the past by such stalwarts as Maskette, Top Flight, Cicada, Ruffian, Before Dawn, Meadow Star, Flanders and Echo Zulu, the historic Spinaway often has been a launching pad of champions.

Will the ultra-impressive debut winner Ways and Means join that illustrious list in Sunday’s edition? She might just have the methods and resources to achieve it, and much more.