Wesley Ward's champion Judy the Beauty (Ghostzapper) is doing well following her third-place effort behind La Verdad (Yes It's True) in Saratog'a GII Honorable Miss H. Wednesday, but she will skip a rematch with the speedy New York-bred in the GI Ballerina S. Aug. 29.
“She's good,” Ward commented. “The winner ran a beautiful race. Going into the race, I knew it'd be tough just because she was on a roll. I'm looking a little more down the road than having her kind of cranked up now because it's tough to keep them, especially sprinters, good all year. We really got beat on the square.”
As for her next start Ward added, “I'm probably going to skip the Ballerina. If she had run a little bit better I'd have probably thought about it. Coming out of the race and thinking about it all night, we're thinking the best thing for her, long-term, is to give her a little bit more time and kind of crank her down and have her ready to go in the fall.”
Judy the Beauty won four of her five starts last term, starting with Santa Anita's GIII Las Flores S. and Keeneland's GI Madison S. Fourth in Churchill's GI Humana Distaff S., she capped an impressive season with victories in GIII Rancho Bernardo H. and the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint, which earned her champion female sprinter honors. The chestnut was a close second in this year's Humana Distaff prior to her effort in the Honorable Miss.
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