Brown-trained Viadera holds on by nose in G2 Ballston Spa

Making only her second start of 2021, Grade 1 heroine Viadera found the winner’s circle for the first time this season in Saratoga’s $400,000 Ballston Spa (G2).

Jockey Joel Rosario piloted the Juddmonte homebred for trainer Chad Brown. Viadera covered 1 1/16 miles of Saratoga turf through a drizzle in 1:41.82, returning $3.60 as the 4-5 favorite.

Viadera, a 5-year-old Bated Breath mare, started her career in Europe before joining Brown’s barn last year. She reeled off three straight wins to close the 2020 season, highlighted by a Matriarch Stakes (G1) score at Del Mar.

After a troubled fourth-place finish Aug. 8 in the De La Rose Stakes, Viadera settled third early on Saturday in the Ballston Spa. Up front, fellow Brown trainee Tamahere set fractions of 22.60, 47.55 and 1:12.12 while Platinum Paynter followed in second.

Viadera moved up to Tamahere’s outside coming into the final furlong, while High Opinion made a bid along the rail and Kalifornia Queen revved up four-wide.

Viadera and High Opinion edged clear toward the wire, and the former stayed up by a nose. Kalifornia Queen got third ahead of Tamahere.

“I was probably worried in the last 100 yards,” Garrett O’Rourke, U.S. general manager of Juddmonte, told “Saratoga Live.” “To be honest with you, I thought (High Opinion) had momentum.

“Then she just stuck that nose out again. She did that in the Matriarch and did that at Belmont (in the Noble Damsel Stakes (G3)) last year. She’s one of those horses that I think she knows where the line is and knows how to get that nose in front. … I’m delighted because we kept her in training for another year and now, we’ve got a reward for it.”