Saratoga: Jody's Pride looks to bounce back in Honorable Miss
Jody’s Pride will look to return to winning form in Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss, a six-furlong sprint for older fillies and mares at Saratoga.
Post time for the ninth race is scheduled for 5:44 p.m. EDT.
Trained by Jorge Abreu, Jody’s Pride will look to improve on a distant third last out in the seven-furlong Bed o’ Roses (G2) on June 6 at Saratoga. There, she traveled in fifth position before making a belated move for third, landing 14 lengths back of the runaway winner Ways and Means, who was 7 3/4 lengths better than runner-up returning rival Scylla.
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Abreu said the uncharacteristic effort can be attributed to a quick turnaround from her sharp three-quarter length score in the one-turn mile Ruffian (G2) on May 10 at Belmont at the Big A.
"Her last effort, I think we never should have ran there. It was too quick back. three weeks,” Abreu said. “She had a very strong breeze before that race where she went in 58. The track was fast. She ran three weeks before with one of her biggest races that she has run, so I don't want to be too critical, but I knew she was going to bounce a little bit. We just took a shot."
The 4-year-old American Pharoah dark bay was an impressive debut winner at Saratoga in August 2023, drawing off to win by 10 1/2-lengths in an off-the-turf 5 1/2-furlong maiden tilt. She captured the off-the-turf, listed Matron sprinting six furlongs that October at Belmont at the Big A ahead of a neck second to eventual champion 2-year-old filly Just F Y I in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita.
Jody’s Pride added the listed Busher Invitational to her ledger last year in a three-start campaign. She was a neck third in her seasonal debut in the Inside Information (G2) in January at Gulfstream Park ahead of a troubled off-the-board try in the 1 1/16-mile Azeri (G2) over a wet, fast and sealed track in March at Oaklawn Park.
Abreu said Jody’s Pride will focus on one-turn races going forward.
"I don't think she is going to mind the six furlongs. I think she is going to be a one-turn horse anyways,” Abreu said. “I tried to cut her back because I think she is better going three-quarters to seven-eighths."
Flavien Prat, who guided Jody’s Pride throughout her juvenile campaign, was aboard the dark bay for a half-mile work in 49.98 seconds on Sunday over the Oklahoma dirt training track.
"She breezed really, really well,” Abreu said.
Dual graded stakes-winning Kentucky homebred Scylla should have plenty of pace to chase as she looks to make the third start of her campaign a winning one for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
The 5-year-old Tapit mare, out of 2014 champion older mare Close Hatches, kicked off her 2025 season with a closing fourth in the Derby City Distaff (G1) in May at Churchill Downs, where she rallied wide over the sloppy and sealed footing to land 6 3/4 lengths back of the victorious Kopion.
Last out, in the Bed o’ Roses, she squeezed up the rail for the stretch run and chased home the victorious Ways and Means. She has worked back three times, including a half-mile in 49.81 July 13 over the Oklahoma dirt training track.
Scylla, a full-sister to multiple graded stakes-winning multimillionaire Tacitus and Grade 3 winner Batten Down, was 3-for-8 last year, including graded wins at Churchill Downs in the 1 1/16-mile Shawnee (G3) and nine-furlong Fleur De Lis (G2). She will look for her first win at less than one mile since her April 2023 debut sprinting six furlongs at Keeneland.