Sarah Joyce, For Goodness Sake top Mrs. Ogden Phipps

Stakes winners Sarah Joyce and For Goodness Sake head a level field of eight older horses set to contest the $75,000 Mrs. Ogden Phipps steeplechase stakes to open Thursday's 10-race program.

The Fields Stable's Sarah Joyce, trained by Elizabeth Voss, won back-to-back races this spring including the Margaret Currey Henley Hurdle May 13 at Percy Warner in Nashville by 3 ¼ lengths.

A 5-year-old mare bred in Ireland, Sarah Joyce faded to fourth as the favorite after setting the pace in the 2 ¼-mile Iris Ann Coggins Memorial, beaten 6 ½ lengths by Amy Taylor Rowe's For Goodness Sake.

For Goodness Sake is one of six horses coming off a flat race prep, running third in a 1 ½-mile allowance July 8 at Parx. The 5-year-old mare will carry 155 pounds, sharing topweight with Sarah Joyce.

Also running on the flat in their previous starts are Wigwam Baby, two-for-six lifetime over jumps for Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard; Amnicalola, a neck winner of an entry-level allowance June 30 at Laurel Park who will be ridden by Maryland-based Forest Boyce, a flat jockey making her steeplechase debut; Swoop, runner up in the Coggins Memorial for Voss; Fall Colors and Amazing Anthem, a maiden winner over jumps May 20 at Malvern.

Rounding out the field is Lady Yeats, third in the 2016 Springdale Stakes last fall at Camden.

Source: NYRA