Scylla, Jody's Pride Seek Top Form in Honorable Miss

A dual graded stakes winner and millionaire, Scylla will try for her first win in more than a year when she battles Jody's Pride, R Disaster, and other female sprinters in the $200,000 Honorable Miss Stakes (G2) July 20 at Saratoga Race Course. Scylla, a 5-year-old daughter of Tapit, last won in the Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) in June 2024 at Churchill Downs. She's had near misses—short by 2 3/4 in the 2024 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) and a length back in last fall's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mares Sprint (G1)—and rarely misses the board. But now she will try to end her winners' circle dry spell by getting her first win at less than a mile since breaking her maiden at Keeneland in 2023. The Juddmonte homebred's last four starts have been at seven furlongs and now she cuts back to six furlongs for Sunday's Honorable Miss. In those four seven-furlong starts for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, Scylla finished 3 1/4 lengths back in second in the 2024 Ballerina Handicap (G1); fourth in the hotly contested Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint; 6 3/4 lengths back in fourth in the Derby City Distaff (G1); and a distant second, beaten 7 3/4 lengths by Ways and Means, in the Bed o' Roses Stakes (G2) June 6 at Saratoga. Trailing Scylla in the Bed o' Roses by 6 1/4 lengths was show finisher Jody's Pride. The 4-year-old American Pharoah filly will attempt to return to the form she showed in winning the May 10 Ruffian Stakes (G2) a start earlier. Jorge Abreu, who trains her for owners Parkland Thoroughbreds and Sportsmen Stable, said that the less-than-a-month turnaround from the Ruffian to the Bed o' Roses was the likely reason behind the less-than-ideal run last time out. "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." R Disaster, the Florida-bred daughter of Awesome Slew, has had a typical start to her 4-year-old campaign. In four starts, she has two firsts and two seconds. She's never finished worse than second in any of her nine starts. After capturing an allowance optional claimer to start 2025, she posted back-to-back seconds in the Hurricane Bertie Stakes (G3) and the Vagrancy Stakes (G3) before winning the Rehoboth Stakes at Delaware Park last time out. Completing the field of nine are Benedetta, Carmelina, Halina's Forte, Little Prankster, Strike Has Dial, and Zadorsky. The Honorable Miss is the featured ninth race on Sunday's 10-race card.