Ozara Takes Ballston Spa, Remains Perfect at Saratoga

Ozara (IRE) has a long way to go to match Fourstardave or even Casa Creed as a Saratoga Race Course legend, but she is certainly moving in the right direction. Cheyenne Stables' 4-year-old daughter of Lope de Vega (IRE) improved to a perfect 3-for-3 at the Spa Aug. 8 as she thundered down the stretch to take the $300,000 Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T) by 1 1/2 lengths for trainer Miguel Clement and owner Everett Dobson's Cheyenne Stable. "She's 3-for-3 here. Her tactical speed works well here, and she loves to run out of her stall," Clement said. "We have that here at Saratoga, though it's something we're missing at Aqueduct, where she has to ship over." In securing her initial graded stakes win, Ozara avenged a loss to a pair of Chad Brown-trained fillies who finished first and second ahead of her in the June 14 Eatontown Stakes (G3T) at Monmouth Park when she settled for third. Since then, while Brown's duo of Eatontown winner Whiskey Decision and runner-up Maggie Go (ARG) pointed to the 1 1/16-mile Ballston Spa, Ozara posted her second Spa victory by posting a half-length win in a division of the restricted De La Rose Stakes. "They had a freshening while Ozara ran in the De La Rose. She was doing well coming into this race, and sometimes when they are doing well, you have to go for it," said Clement, who noted it was his filly's third start in the relatively short span of eight weeks. "Even if it goes against the numbers and speed figures. You have to try or you can't be rewarded." Longshot Edict (ARG) set the early fractions of :46.69 and 1:10.33 in the Ballston Spa, while Dylan Davis kept Ozara in fourth. Niall Brennan and Mike Ryan's No Mo Candy prompted the pace from second much of the way before surging to the lead at the top of the stretch and opening a 1 1/2-length lead at the eighth pole That's when Ozara ($9.20) came on the scene with 5-2 favorite Deep Satin, the winner of the other division of the De La Rose, rallying behind her. Moving off the rail, Ozara forged to the front near the sixteenth pole and drew off to cover the mile and a sixteenth in 1:39.65. John Gunther and breeder Eurowest Bloodstock's Deep Satin, an American Pharoah filly trained by Cherie DeVaux, grabbed second by a head over No Mo Candy, an Uncle Mo 4-year-old trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. Whiskey Decision finished fourth in the field of seven, while Maggie Go ran sixth. "(Ozara) showed a dimension that we were hopeful of. She really stepped it up a notch. I'm very happy," said Dobson, an owner of the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder and chairman of The Jockey Club. For Clement, it was his fifth graded stakes win since taking over the stable from his late father, Christophe, a little more than two months ago. "Miguel has done an amazing job," Dobson said. "The transition was obviously very, very difficult on everyone's emotions; the family and the extended family. So, for him to get off to a hot start like this is so good." A daughter of the Acclamation (GB) mare Cercle d'Or and bred by the Fleche D'Or partnership, Ozara was bought for $416,346 out of Book 1 at the 2022 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. It was her seventh win from 13 starts and increased her earnings to $598,257. Clement mentioned the Oct. 4 First Lady Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland or Matriarch Stakes (G1T) in late November at Del Mar as possible future targets for Ozara.