Scylla Eyes First Grade 1 Victory in Ballerina Stakes

When Scylla enters the starting gate for the $500,000 Ballerina Stakes (G1), the 5-year-old daughter of Tapit will be looking to follow in the footsteps of her dam, Close Hatches, by becoming a grade 1 winner at Saratoga Race Course. The Bill Mott-trained Scylla, a homebred for Juddmonte, is among a deeply talented field of nine fillies and mares entered in the Aug. 23 Ballerina, a seven-furlong dirt contest that serves as an undercard stakes on Travers day. The Ballerina is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In event for the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Del Mar. Scylla, a multiple graded stakes winner with earnings of $1,082,795, is seeking her initial grade 1 victory after finishing second in last year's Ballerina. She is the fifth foal produced by the Mott-trained Close Hatches—the winner of Saratoga's 2014 Personal Ensign Stakes (G1)—and a full sibling to Tacitus, the Belmont (G1) and Travers (G1) stakes runner-up and Kentucky Derby (G1) third-place finisher of 2019. "I can see a little bit of her mother in (Scylla)," Mott said at his Saratoga barn Aug. 19. "Her mother was a good racehorse. At one time, we had (siblings) Batten Down, Resurge, and Scylla all next to each other in this barn." As the tepid morning-line favorite at 5-2 in a race that offers handicappers an intriguing puzzle to solve, Scylla is winless in three starts this year. Two of those losses came over sloppy tracks, a fourth in the seven-furlong Derby City Distaff Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs, and a third in the six-furlong Honorable Miss Stakes (G2) at Saratoga. In between, she finished a well-beaten second to the talented Ways and Means in Saratoga's Bed o' Roses Stakes (G2) at seven furlongs. She will not have to contend with that formidable foe Saturday as Ways and Means missed a breeze for the Ballerina when spiking a fever and didn't enter. "We weren't in the best situation with the condition of the racetrack; she didn't seem to relish the sloppy track... and it was a horrible track in Kentucky," Mott said. "We ran up against Ways and Means last time and she ran right through the bridle. She's not in there, so that gives us a better chance. And I think we will have a better chance at the seven furlongs if we get a non-sloppy racetrack." Scylla, who figures to be sitting off the early leaders, drew post 7 with Flavien Prat aboard for the first time. Bob Baffert will be represented by grade 1-placed and graded stakes-winning Hope Road, a daughter of Marley's Freedom, the trainer's 2018 Ballerina winner. The 4-year-old daughter of Quality Road has been working lights-out at Del Mar for this assignment and looks to be prominent in the early going from post 9 with Jose Ortiz in the saddle. She hasn't run since finishing third in the May 26 Winning Colors Stakes (G3). Prior to that, Cicero Farms' Hope Road was second to the well-regarded Kopion in the Derby City Distaff. "I think she ran her race in the big race on Derby Day and then she came back and I think she probably didn't bring her 'A' race (in the Winning Colors)," Baffert said. "But she's freshened up and she's training well, so we're giving her a chance. Her mother won this race a few years ago, so, hopefully, she can have the same kind of luck. "I think this is what she wants," Baffert said of the distance. "She can go two turns, but I think seven-eighths is a good distance for her." Among the entrants is Brightwork, who is undefeated in three starts at Saratoga: the Spinaway Stakes (G1) and Adirondack Stakes (G3) in 2023, and the Prioress Stakes (G3) in 2024. In two starts in stakes this year, WSS Racing's Brightwork failed to crack the top three, but trainer John Ortiz is optimistic the 4-year-old, who had an eye-catching half-mile breeze in :47.87, the second fastest of 105 at the distance Aug. 9 at Saratoga, is sitting on a good effort. "We've been making sure everything on our checklist is good, and right now she's doing even better than we hoped," Ortiz said. "We brought her up here because she obviously loves Saratoga. I think she just loves the atmosphere, as do I, it is just a different air here. She feels that and her workouts have shown it. Back in Kentucky, her workouts were pretty (ordinary), but here, she's really stepped it up." The field also includes graded stakes winners Mystic Lake (cross-entered in the Aug. 22 Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon Stakes at Hollywood Casino At Charles Town Races), Halina's Forte, Zeitlos, and My Mane Squeeze. Stakes winner Majestic Oops and graded stakes-placed Claret Beret complete the field.